ao

Built-in global library for process communication and management. The ao object provides core functionality for sending messages, spawning processes, and logging.

Core Functions

ao.send(msg)

Sends a message to another process. See the ao.send reference for more information.

-- Send a simple message
ao.send({
  Target = "usjm4PCxUd5mtaon7zc97-dt-3qf67yPyqgzLnLqk5A",
  Data = "Hello!",
  Tags = {
    Action = "Greeting"
  }
})

-- Root-level fields are automatically converted to tags
ao.send({
  Target = "usjm4PCxUd5mtaon7zc97-dt-3qf67yPyqgzLnLqk5A",
  Data = "Transfer tokens",
  Action = "Transfer",     -- Becomes a tag
  Quantity = "1045"       -- Becomes a tag
})

ao.spawn(module: string, spawn: table)

Creates a new process from a module. See the ao.spawn reference for more information.

-- Spawn a calculator process
ao.spawn("n0BFH80b73mi9VAWUzyuG9gEC3LI2zU2BFxum0N8A9s", {
  Data = { initial = "state" },
  Tags = {
    ["Process-Type"] = "calculator"
  }
})

ao.log(string|table)

Logs messages or data that can be read by process callers.

-- Log a debug message
ao.log("Processing transfer...")

-- Log structured data
ao.log({
  event = "transfer_complete",
  amount = 100,
  recipient = "addr123..."
})

Environment

The ao.env variable contains process initialization info like ID, owner, and tags.

-- Access process info
local processId = ao.env.Process.Id
local owner = ao.env.Process.Owner

For the complete API reference including all properties and functions, see the ao reference documentation.