The preferred method for obtaining the TAEB source is from the GitHub repo:

git clone git://github.com/TAEB/TAEB.git

Alternatively, you can download a snapshot of the code as a tarball:

http://github.com/TAEB/TAEB/tarball/master

You could also download a potentially very old copy of TAEB from CPAN:

cpanm TAEB

Downloading the tarball or installing from CPAN means less work up front (no need to install git), but it'll be more work every time you want to update. We very strongly recommend using git.

TAEB uses Dist::Zilla for its packaging and toolchain support.

You can install TAEB's dependencies with the following commands:

dzil authordeps --missing | cpanm
dzil listdeps --missing | cpanm

Though TAEB ships with a demo AI, you should still install a robust AI. There are currently three AIs: Behavioral, Planar, and Magus.

The primary AI is Behavioral, since it is the original TAEB AI and is developed by many of the primary TAEB authors. The preferred method to get it is through git:

git clone git://github.com/TAEB/TAEB-AI-Behavioral.git

Or you can get a tarball from:

http://github.com/TAEB/TAEB-AI-Behavioral/tarball/master

or an old copy from CPAN:

cpanm TAEB::AI::Behavioral

Another AI is Planar, whose design principle is "be the opposite of Behavorial". You can get it with darcs:

darcs get http://patch-tag.com/r/ais523/taeb-ai-planar

Or the GitHub mirror:

git clone git://github.com/TAEB/TAEB-AI-Planar.git

Or a tarball snapshot of the GitHub mirror:

http://github.com/TAEB/TAEB-AI-Planar/tarball/master

The newest AI is Magus, which optimizes specifically for Wizards. You can grab it from GitHub:

git clone git://github.com/TAEB/TAEB-AI-Magus.git

TAEB itself has a lot of configuration. It sets up some sensible defaults for you (such as playing nethack locally with the Demo AI and communicating with you via Curses). You aren't required to set up a config, but if you want to change how TAEB operates, such as by making him play on a NetHack server, you can. Specify the configuration in ~/.taeb/config.yml, which is written in YAML. The full list of configuration options, including the required .nethackrc file is provided in TAEB::Config. Sample configuration files are available in etc/examples.

You should now be ready to run TAEB! If you're in the TAEB checkout, run perl -Ilib bin/taeb. Or, if you installed TAEB, run taeb. Either way, be sure to cross your fingers.

If perl doesn't find the installed modules you may need to set the $PERL5LIB environment variable to where you placed them.

TAEB ships with a number of debug commands. Typing ? will list them for you.

If you're sufficiently inspired by TAEB, we'd love to have you onboard! The best first step is to read TAEB::AI::Demo's code, then try some of the exercises. The exercises are geared toward letting you explore TAEB's codebase. Very tricky, we are.

We also write a lot about TAEB's architecture and dealing with programmatic NetHack on our blog, http://taeb-nethack.blogspot.com/.