Scripting Languages Initialization
New in 8

by Ehsan Iran-Nejad (Last updated: Monday, January 22, 2024)

Scripting Root Directory

All languages initialize their runtimes under the scripting root directory. This is usually placed under:

  • %USERPROFILE%\.rhinocode on Window
  • ~/.rhinocode on macOS (and other Unix-like)

For example, in Rhino 8, Python 3 (CPython) and Python 2 (IronPython) deploy their runtimes and modules under these directories respectively:

  • ~/.rhinocode/py39-rh8/ for Python 3
  • ~/.rhinocode/py27-rh8/ for Python 2

Alongside language runtimes, root directory also holds:

  • logs/ for application log files
  • stage/ for temporary scripts
  • libs/ for cache for script libraries
  • component.json for configurations for Script Components
  • editor.json for configurations for Script Editor

Changing Root Directory

It is sometimes necessary to change the location of this directory. As mentioned above, Python 3 deploys its runtime in the scripting root directory and needs to run Python executive binary (python.exe on Windows) to start the language server and install packages from PyPI.org

If this is something you need to block for security reasons, you can change the scripting root directory to a different location with execute priviledges.

To change the scripting root directory:

  • Open Rhino
  • Do not interact with the scripting tools, meaning do not open ScriptEditor, Grasshopper, and do not run RunPythonCommand
  • Go to Rhino -> Tools -> Options -> Advanced, and override the default empty value of RhinoCodePlugin.RootPath with your desired root directory path. This needs to be an absolute path and must be writable with execute priviledges for user running Rhino
  • Close and Reopen Rhino
  • Open ScriptEditor and let it initialize languages in this new root directory
  • Open Grasshopper and drop a Script component on the canvas so the component.json file is also created in root directory

Resetting Root Directory

To change the scripting root directory back to default, clear the override set on RhinoCodePlugin.RootPath in Advanced options as shown above.