vvvv-startup

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Covers launching vvvv gamma from the command line or programmatically -- normal startup, opening specific .vl patches, command-line arguments, package repositories, and key filesystem paths (install directory, user data, sketches, exports, packages). Use when starting vvvv, configuring launch arguments, setting up package repositories, or finding vvvv's data directories.

1installs

Sourcetebjan/vvvv-skills

Added on2026-03-07

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add tebjan/vvvv-skills vvvv-startup

SKILL.md Content

View Translation Comparison →

Launching vvvv gamma

Filesystem Paths

Location	Path
Install directory	`C:\Program Files\vvvv\vvvv_gamma_X.Y-win-x64\`
User data (AppData)	`%LOCALAPPDATA%\vvvv\gamma\`
Documents root	`%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\`
Sketches	`%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\Sketches`
Exports	`%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\Exports`
User packages	`%LOCALAPPDATA%\vvvv\gamma\nugets`
Log file (when enabled)	`%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\vvvv.log`

Preview builds use

gamma-preview

instead of

gamma

in the above paths.

Normal Launch

shell

# Launch vvvv (opens with default empty patch)
"C:\Program Files\vvvv\vvvv_gamma_7.0-win-x64\vvvv.exe"

# Open a specific patch
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl

# Open multiple files
vvvv.exe --open "FileA.vl;FileB.vl"

Package Repositories and Editable Packages

These two arguments work together and are the most important for development:

--package-repositories
tells vvvv where to look for packages. Provide the parent folder of each package (the folder containing the package directory, not the package directory itself).
--editable-packages
tells vvvv which packages from those repositories to load from source instead of pre-compiled cache (read-only). Glob patterns are supported.

You must use both together when working on a package from source:

shell

# Given this folder structure:
#   D:\Projects\
#     VL.MyLib\           <-- the package
#       VL.MyLib.vl
#     VL.MyOtherLib\      <-- another package
#       VL.MyOtherLib.vl

# The parent folder "D:\Projects" is the package repository
vvvv.exe --package-repositories "D:\Projects" --editable-packages "VL.MyLib*" --debug

# Multiple repositories (semi-colon separated)
vvvv.exe --package-repositories "D:\Projects;D:\SharedLibs" --editable-packages "VL.MyLib*;VL.SharedUtils" --debug

# Open a specific help patch for testing
vvvv.exe --package-repositories "D:\Projects" --editable-packages "VL.MyLib*" -o "D:\Projects\VL.MyLib\help\HowTo Use Feature.vl" --debug

Without

--package-repositories

, vvvv won't find your local package sources, and

--editable-packages

will have no effect.

Common Argument Combinations

shell

# Development: debug symbols + allow multiple instances
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl --debug --allowmultiple

# Troubleshooting: skip cache, enable logging
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl --nocache --log

# Minimal startup: no extensions, no backend (fast launch for patch editing)
vvvv.exe --noextensions --disable-backend

# Paused on startup (runtime won't start until you press play)
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl --stoppedonstartup

# Skip splash screen
vvvv.exe --no-splash

For the complete argument reference, see cli-reference.md.

Detecting vvvv Installations

To find vvvv programmatically:

Windows Registry: Enumerate

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

for subkeys starting with

vvvv_gamma_

. Read the

InstallLocation

value.

Default path: Scan
```
C:\Program Files\vvvv\
```
for directories matching
```
vvvv_gamma_*
```
.
Version parsing: Extract version from directory name format
```
vvvv_gamma_MAJOR.MINOR[-PREVIEW-HASH-PLATFORM]
```
.
Filtering: Exclude
```
-beta
```
,
```
-alpha
```
,
```
-rc
```
,
```
-test
```
,
```
-dev
```
, etc. variants if not explicitly requested.
Selection: Sort by major DESC, minor DESC, preview number DESC. Pick the latest and ask the user if that or another one should be used.

The executable is at

<install-dir>\vvvv.exe

.

vvvv-startup

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Launching vvvv gamma

Filesystem Paths

Normal Launch

Package Repositories and Editable Packages

Common Argument Combinations

Detecting vvvv Installations