Hot Reload the User Library

Help query: "How do I hot reload plugins?" / "What is workspace.compile?" / "How do I reload user.dll?"

In a release install

1. Open the released Volt binary (User Source Tree is the default workspace beside the executable).
2. Run workspace.compile (from the command palette / F3, or your custom chord).
3. The prompt prefills cargo build --release -p volt-user for the shipped User Source Tree.
4. On success Volt:
   • Streams build output into the *compile <workspace>* popup
   • Copies the artifact to a unique path under target/<profile>/volt-user-hot/
   • Loads that copy into the running process
   • Shows a success notification

Staging avoids overwriting a mapped library. That matters especially on Windows, where a loaded user.dll cannot be replaced in place.

Use workspace.recompile (S-F5) to re-run the last build command, or workspace.reload-user-library to reload after an external rebuild.

From source (dev loop)

During development you usually rebuild and restart, or rebuild and relaunch:

cargo build -p volt-user
cargo run -p volt

Headless checks:

cargo run -p volt -- --shell-hidden
cargo run -p volt -- --bootstrap-demo

Override library path

# Windows
set VOLT_USER_LIBRARY=P:\volt\target\debug\user.dll

Point at the platform-specific artifact name.

What hot-reloads without rebuilding

Asset	Mechanism
user/config/*.yaml	Config watcher / config::load()
user/themes/*.toml	Theme watcher
Rust package metadata	Requires rebuild (+ hot swap via workspace.compile in release)

ABI notes

The Plugin SDK is the stable boundary. Hot-reloaded cdylib copies may fall back to host-side workers for some capabilities until non-prefix ABI seams exist. Prefer rebuilding against a matching SDK when you change host APIs.

See ADR 0008 in the Volt repository: User Source Tree and Plugin SDK boundary.

Related help topics

• Compile Plugin
• Build the user package
• Troubleshooting