Getting started with BATCH

← BATCH project overview

BATCH is a no-build, server-rendered hypermedia substrate: Bun runs the TypeScript directly, there is no bundler, and htmx handles reads and navigation. BATCH is a library, not a server of its own. The portfolio is the composition root that shows it running with GRAIN and MILL. The reasoning behind the package is in ARCHITECTURE.md, and the build rules are in CONVENTIONS.md.

Install and run

To use BATCH in a Bun app, install the package:

bun add @tjakoen/batch

For npm, run npm install @tjakoen/batch. The package has no server command. To develop BATCH from its repository, clone it and run:

bun install
bun test
bun run check

To see BATCH composed into a running site, clone the portfolio repository and follow its development instructions. That app wires BATCH, GRAIN, and MILL together.

What you get out of the box

  • The composition engine — server-rendered HTML from .html templates and a binding vocabulary (data-field, data-bind-<attr>, each, component tags); see CONVENTIONS §2–4.
  • A generic SSE push hub (@tjakoen/batch/http/stream.ts) carries the transport for GRAIN's render ops.
  • A route-derived sitemap helper and the route list a host can use when it writes robots.txt, plus a separate renderer for host-authored /llms.txt entries. BATCH does not generate robots.txt; the composition root supplies the routes and descriptions.
  • A static-export library (@tjakoen/batch/export/*) that a host app can use to freeze server output without building a second renderer (ARCHITECTURE §18).
  • A framework-generic performance and SEO/AEO audit library. The portfolio wraps that library in its own bun run audit command.

Next steps

  • Read ARCHITECTURE.md for the substrate's full reasoning (start here if you want to understand why, not just how).
  • Read CONVENTIONS.md for the component/layering/testing rules before you add code.
  • If you also want the AI-interaction layer (a UI a human and an AI can operate through one vocabulary), see GRAIN's getting-started — it builds on BATCH but imports nothing from it.
  • Browse GRAIN's components in the live /catalog.