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The CookieOS start menu is the central hub of the operating system. It appears automatically after the boot sequence completes and gives you keyboard-driven access to every major area of CookieOS: the command prompt, the programs menu, power management, the uninstaller, and the built-in help system. It stays on screen until you make a selection, and it keeps a live clock running in the top-right corner at all times so you always know the current time.

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Screen Layout

The display is split into two layers drawn by cosUtils.drawMenu(term) and cosUtils.centerPrintTable respectively.

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Top Bar

cosUtils.drawMenu(term) renders a persistent two-character-wide bar spanning the top two rows of the terminal. It is backed by an off-screen window that is shown only once fully composed, preventing flicker:
  • Left — the version string stored in the global cosv (e.g., CookieOS v2.2.5), written in yellow.
  • Right — the current time in HH:MM AM/PM format (or 24-hour if configured), written in white.
Below the top bar, the menu is rendered using cosUtils.centerPrintTable inside an invisible off-screen window. cosUtils.drawBox draws a border around the items, and each item is horizontally centered on the terminal. The selected item is highlighted with square brackets, for example [ Command ], while all other items appear without decoration.
OptionAction
CommandOpens the command prompt (os/.command)
ProgramsOpens the programs menu (os/.programs)
PowerOpens power management (os/.powerManagement)
UninstallRuns the uninstall script (os/.uninstall)
HelpRuns .help

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Keyboard Navigation

Navigation is handled entirely by the keyboard. cosUtils.menuKeyUpDownManagement(key, numOp, max, min) translates key presses into a new selection index, wrapping seamlessly from the last option back to the first and vice versa.
1

Move the selection

Press the Up or Down arrow key to move the highlighted bracket to the previous or next option. The selection wraps around at both ends.
2

Confirm your choice

Press Enter to confirm the currently highlighted option. The menu event loop breaks and the chosen script is launched via shell.run.

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Live Clock Refresh

The start menu uses a timer to keep the top-bar clock current without polling continuously. A new timer fires roughly every second; the menu only redraws when the minute value has actually changed since the last redraw, so screen updates are kept to a minimum. 
local timerID = os.startTimer(0.1)
while true do
    local e, key = os.pullEvent()
    if e == "timer" and key == timerID then
        local _, minutee = cosUtils.getTime("12", true)
        if lastrefresh ~= minutee then
            drawMenu(term)
            drawFrontEnd(term)
        end
        timerID = os.startTimer(1)
    elseif e == "key" then
        -- handle key navigation
    end
end
The first timer fires after 0.1 seconds to produce a near-instant initial refresh, then every subsequent timer is set to 1 second. cosUtils.getTime("12", true) returns the current hour, minute, and AM/PM indicator; the minute value is stored in lastrefresh after each draw so the comparison is cheap.
The clock format is controlled by the timeFormat CC:Tweaked setting, which is defined and documented by cosUtils. It defaults to "12" for 12-hour display. To switch to 24-hour format, run the following from any shell session:
settings.set("timeFormat", "24")
settings.save()
The new format takes effect the next time the top bar is redrawn.

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