Set up the swarm
========================

To start and run multiple components at the same time we can use the *swarm* functionality from the swergio toolbox.

We therefore need to set up a ``swarm.yaml`` file, that contains all the information about general settings as well as the separate components.

For the general settings we can define the paths to the environments used to execute the python codes.

We can also add the command used to run python files, which is in default mode ``python``, but can be set to ``python3``.

And lastly we can define a command we'll use to run the component in a terminal. If this command is not provided the code is run without of a terminal.

.. code-block:: yaml

    settings:
        python_envpath: "./venv/bin/" #  path to executable "python" in virtual environment folder 
        python_cmd: "python" # (default) or "python3"
        terminal_cmd: "xterm -fs 14 -fa DejaVuSansMono -hold -e" # execution of file will be added


Each component need to have a unique name and a provided filepath to the source code.

Optional a *delay* parameter can be provided which will result in a n-second delay until the next component of the list is started. This can be useful to ensure that for example the server is up and running.

We can also add individual settings (*python_envpath*, *python_cmd* or *terminal_cmd*) to the component to overwrite the general settings. 

.. code-block:: yaml

    components:
        server:
            filepath: "01_server.py"
            delay: 5
        aggregation:
            filepath: "03_aggregation.py"
        gym:
            filepath: "04_gym_env.py"
        evolution:
            filepath: "05_evolutionary.py"