Frontend and Launching

Frontend modules

The frontend is a collection of small programs that share display, input, configuration and storage libraries. Each screen is a module whose name starts with mux:

muxlaunchThe Main Menu.

muxploreExplore Content.

muxconfigConfiguration.

Themes use the active module name to pick a screen specific scheme, wallpaper, static image, font and glyph set. The Grand Tour documents every visible module and its controls, and Theme Structure explains how module names map to theme assets.

Content and core assignment

Explore Content finds content on mounted storage. Core Assignment connects a file or folder to a system and a way to launch it. The system manifests provide the available Pickles, RetroArch and external choices, along with the catalogue name, folder aliases, BIOS records and optional performance or control settings.

What happens when you launch

Resolve settingsContent and folder specific settings are worked out.

PrepareThe short-lived runtime state is written.

Choose the playerThe assigned launcher is selected.

TrackActivity tracking starts when it is enabled.

PlayThe content is handed to the selected player.

Clean upThe governor, controls, display mode, audio route and LEDs are restored.

Core Assignment covers this from the user side, and the Core Assign Reference covers the developer schema and how launches are resolved.