Playtest Release Notes
This playtest release adds player-owned network hosting, expands the terminal and scripting systems, and substantially updates the browser, mail, desktop, account, networking, and persistence experience
Player networks and hosting
Players can now rent private networks through an in-game hosting provider. Each rental includes a public uplink, router, server, private address range, and recurring hosting cost.
The new Uplink Control application is used to inspect rented networks, add or remove resources, preview billing changes, and manage network access. Player computers and edge routers are now represented separately, and network maps provide clearer information about routes and connections.
Routing, port forwarding, and edge firewall rules have been expanded to support hosted services and remotely accessible machines.
Terminal and processes
The shell now supports pipelines using |, background commands using &, and sequential commands using ;. Pipeline output is streamed directly between commands while they run.
Terminal jobs can be suspended with Ctrl+Z, attached to again later, detached from, and given standard input. Named pipes can be created with mkfifo for communication between processes.
Shell scripts now support local variables, conditions, numeric ranges, loops, nested blocks, and command-result handling. Players can also stop processes owned by their current user without requiring root access.
SSH sessions now have persistent authentication and connection state. SCP supports uploading and downloading through active SSH hops, including transfers between a remote machine and the player’s original computer.
Ctrl+C handling, long output, prompts, progress updates, exit statuses, and expected command errors have been made more consistent.
Browser, mail, jobs, and banking
The browser now supports tabs, navigation history, redirects, cookies, forms, application links, and clearer navigation errors.
RootMail now includes provider account registration, folders, attachments, replies, saved attachments, and live mailbox updates.
Job-board sessions now persist. Players can request another copy of accepted contract instructions or abandon a contract.
Domain purchases now use an in-game checkout flow, and players can manage DNS records for domains they own.
Bank transaction history is now paginated. Checkout windows, payment status, hosting purchases, and contract payment guidance have also been updated.
Mission submission handling, contract matching, and generated onboarding mail have received several fixes.
Manual and scripting
A new offline ROOTLINE Manual can be opened from the desktop or terminal. It documents the game’s systems, networking, exploitation workflow, shell features, and current Lua APIs.
Lua compilation now supports checking source from standard input and inspecting compiled executables and libraries.
Player-facing Lua APIs have been reorganized around shared HTTP, networking, mail, domain, and system libraries. Older single-purpose libraries have been removed, so scripts using those interfaces may need to be updated.
Command validation and usage messages have been improved across the firewall, attack, scanning, banking, IRC, DNS, package, and system tools.
Compatible local privilege-escalation exploits can now attempt injection without a Lua payload.
Desktop and account changes
The sign-in screen now displays network status and remembers the last-used username.
Players can reset their account from the sign-in screen after confirming the action. A reset preserves whether the original account used the tutorial or the starter grant.
Desktop applications can now provide actionable notifications and audio cues. Volume controls and adjustable content scaling have also been added for supported applications.
Reliability and persistence
Startup, sign-in, database access, and game connections now retry temporary failures and display clearer connection status.
Terminal, GUI, and SSH sessions recover more reliably after a connection interruption. Closing applications and shutting down the client are also handled more cleanly.
Persistence for accounts, worlds, mail, banking, processes, machines, and networks has been reworked to behave more reliably across supported database providers and server restarts.
Removed commands
The standalone upload and download commands have been removed. File transfers should now be performed through SSH and SCP.
The legacy explorer and run command wrappers have also been removed in favor of the current desktop applications and process-launching commands.