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Installation

Archetect ships as a single native binary for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Homebrew (macOS and Linux)​

brew install archetect/tap/archetect

Upgrades arrive through the normal Homebrew flow:

brew upgrade archetect

Pre-built binaries​

Download the archive for your platform from the GitHub Releases page, extract it, and place the archetect binary somewhere on your PATH.

From source​

With a Rust toolchain installed:

git clone https://github.com/archetect/archetect.git
cd archetect
cargo install --path archetect-bin

Verify the installation​

archetect --version
archetect 3.0.0

Then let Archetect inspect its own environment:

archetect check
🔍 Git installation (optional)
	🟢 git version 2.54.0

🔍 Git user.name and user.email
	🟢 Jane Developer <jane@example.com>

🔍 Cache directory
	🟢 /home/jane/.cache/archetect (writable)

🔍 Shell execution policy
	ℹ  Prompt — scripts must request approval per command (default)

🔍 Lua IDE annotations
	ℹ  Not installed
	   Run `archetect ide setup` to install Lua type annotations for IDE autocomplete.

🔍 GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
	ℹ  Not set
	   Required only if archetype scripts use the archetect.github module.

Green checks are required for a healthy setup; informational items only matter for specific workflows (the notes tell you which).

Shell completions​

Archetect can generate completions for bash, zsh, fish, powershell, and elvish:

# zsh example
archetect completions zsh > ~/.zfunc/_archetect

Consult your shell's documentation for where completion scripts belong.

Where Archetect keeps its files​

Archetect follows the XDG base directory conventions:

archetect system layout
Etc Directory:   ~/.config/archetect
Etc.d Directory: ~/.config/archetect/etc.d
Cache Directory: ~/.cache/archetect
Data Directory:  ~/.local/share/archetect
  • Config (~/.config/archetect/) — your archetect.yaml configuration.
  • Cache (~/.cache/archetect/) — cloned archetypes and catalogs.
  • Data (~/.local/share/archetect/) — installed support files, such as Lua IDE annotations.

Next step​

Learn the core concepts, or jump straight to the Quick Start.