Ayon Developer Mode -- Guide

[mustafa_jafar]

Intro

Ayon dev mode was introduced to ease pipeline client code development, however it sill has some limitations, More about that later.

Ayon dev enables users to:

1. change addons versions within the dev bundle
2. have explicit addon paths
3. make it available for particular users

Here is how to setup Ayon dev mode.

Enable Ayon Developer Mode

Follow the following steps

1. Enable developer mode for particular users.
   

   

2. Create Dev Bundles
   

   

3. Select your dev bundle, to start editing its settings
   

   

Caution: Don’t forget to set your Dev Bundle settings!
Hint: you may copy settings from other bundles as follows:

Ayon Launcher in Dev Mode

This is possible by running Ayon launcher live from Ayon launcher Repo

Get Ayon Launcher Repo

I’m on windows.

In power shell

git clone https://github.com/ynput/ayon-launcher.git
cd ayon-launcher
tools\manage.ps1
tools\manage.ps1 --create-env
tools\manage.ps1 --install-runtime-dependencies

Run Ayon Launcher in Dev Mode

From your Ayon Launcher directory, run :
Windows: use either one of these:

• .\tools\manage.ps1 run --use-dev
  or
• .\tools\ayon_console.bat --use-dev

Linux & macOS:

• ./tools/make.sh run --use-dev

Checkpoint

By this step, you are able to:

• Run Ayon Launcher in Dev mode.
• Create dev bundle.
• Change addons versions in your dev bundle as desired.

Explicit Addon Paths

As mentioned earlier, Ayon dev mode was introduced to ease pipeline client code development.
And, in dev bundle settings we expose addons’ client code path which is the client dir path inside the clones of addons repo on your disk.

Note, you are still required to upload their addon zip files to update their settings on the server.

Note about deprecated OpenPype addon

We no longer use it.
We used to use it before migrating the pipeline code to ayon-core and then migrating each DCC integration to its dedicated addon.

ANYWAY, OpenPype addon will conflict with ayon-core.
Therefore, Set OpenPype to None or even consider uninstalling it from your server.

Create addon files

This step provides more info about creating Addon files.

We use the following commands to create addon files.
In any addon repo directory:
To export an addon: --output is optional

python create_package.py  --output <my-favorite-dir> 

For Addons that have their own Repos:
In their Repos directories.
Some addons like kitsu have client and server specific code for them I’m using --only-client flag.

python create_package.py --skip-zip --only-client --output  <my-favorite-dir-for-client-code>
python create_package.py --output  <my-favorite-dir-for-addon-zip-file>

Checkpoint

By this step, you are able to work on addons’ code locally on your machine.

Push addons to users

Well, mostly you have done it while developing when you uploaded the addon zip.
But, let add one more tip:
you may would like to add your studio name to differentiate your addon from official addon releases e.g. core-0.2.1-mycoolstudio.1

Also, you can uninstall it and re-install it again.
Ayon server wont allow addon un-installation if it’s used in any bundles (even if they were dev bundles)
So, you may need to set the version to None in your dev bundle.

Tip

you can define different “configurations” in your IDE to create packages automatically.
e.g. In PyCharm

Ayon Dev and Deadline

For windows:
you can use live Ayon launcher with deadline as mentioned in AYON / Openpype Deadline Setup by using the ayon_console.bat, it’s in tools folder inside Ayon Launcher Repo.

[Krishna_Avril]

Hey!

Can any environment variable be assigned for the URL in Ayon? especially for the Ayon application login window?

(auto-login through the network using AD will also be a way to automate things)

[mustafa_jafar]

I think this is a question for @iLLiCiT .

but, let me share my 2 cents.
As far as I know Ayon launcher in dev mode works works in the same manner regards connection credentials, where it will fetch the last used credentials… and it will only ask if it failed to obtain these info.

also, you can use --ayon-login so ayon laucnher always asks for your user info.

[Yul]

Hi,
For the url itself : AYON_SERVER_URL
Described here : Running AYON desktop launcher | AYON Docs

[BigRoy]

@mustafa_jafar To get beginners started with testing a PR branch, e.g. a PR of OpenPype. Could you point out the very basic steps one would need to take to get that up and running locally for testing in AYON?

I’ve had a few times having community members ask me “How to test PR X with Ayon?”

1. Enable Developer mode for your user
2. Git checkout the PR branch
   • e.g. see Github’s checking out a Pull Request branch locally documentation.
3. Set the OpenPype developer bundle’s path to the path of the checked out branch

Is there more to it? Do you still need to create zips and uploads? Or can you just run from there?
Any chance you could do a video recording showing this process?

Something under five minutes explaining how to get a PR up and running for testing locally would be great!