TODO

The axiom name is taken by a Yoeman-like workflow tool. We'll need a new name, stat.

Axiom: Universal File System, Streams, and Processes API for JS

Axiom is a cross browser library that provides primitives for File Systems, Streams, and Processes.

If you're not already familiar with Axiom, please read our explainer document for a brief introduction to the project.

Live demo

For a live demo of Axiom in action, check out the web_shell sample app on our github.io page. Read more about it in web_shell/README.md.

Axiom on node.js

Axiom can also be used from node.js. The same code behind our online demo can be used to start a shell in a native terminal. You'll need an xterm compatible terminal emulator for this, even on Windows. See issue #97 for the details.

Building Axiom

If you're already familiar with node.js, npm, and grunt, you can jump right in with...

$ cd path/to/axiom
$ npm install
$ grunt dist

For more detailed information see our build.md document.

The Axiom distribution

The Axiom distribution includes two libraries, axiom-base and axiom-wash.

The axiom-base library contains the file system library and drivers for a few stock file systems, including:

An in-memory file system called "jsfs".
A DOM File System based driver called "domfs". (Supported cross browser using a polyfill.
A Google Drive file system.
A node.js based file system which lets your access your local file system through the Axiom API in a node.js environment.

(The DOM, Google Drive, and node.js file system drivers may move out to separate packages at some point.)

The axiom-wash library contains a command line interface running on top of axiom-base. It includes the wash command shell and a few supporting executables (cd, cp, mv, etc.). If your application doesn't need to provide a command line interface you won't need to include this library.

These libraries are available as raw ES6 modules, individual AMD-compatible files, concatenated AMD-compatible bundle, and individual CommonJS modules. Choose whichever version suits your particular application.

Importing Axiom

NOTE: We've yet to finalize the name for "Axiom". Once that's done, we'll be publishing npm packages for the axiom-base and axiom-wash libraries. Until then, you need to build them yourself by following the instructions in our build.md document.

If your application is browser based you'll probably want to load the AMD bundle in a <script> tag.

If your application has an AMD loader already, you may use its require function to import axiom modules. Module access will look like var FileSystem = require('axiom/fs/base/file_system').FileSystem';.

If you don't have your own AMD loader you have two options. You can replace require with __axiomRequire__ as shown above, or you can export the modules to a global variable. To create a global variable, call __axiomExport__(window); before calling any Axiom code. This will create a window.axiom object containing the Axiom modules. You can access modules with code like var FileSystem = axiom.fs.base.file_system.FileSystem.

If you're using Axiom in a node.js environment, make sure to include the cjs/ directory from the Axiom distribution in your module path, and require modules with code like var FileSystem = require('axiom/fs/base/file_system').FileSystem;.

Axiom API

Documentation is a work-in progress. Stay tuned to our api.md document. Until that's done, start with the web_shell sample or the base file system classes.

chromium / axiom

readme