local-machine-setup.md

Local Machine Setup

This guide shows how to set up aic on a local development machine.

1. Prerequisites

Install these tools first:

• Rust (stable toolchain)
• clang available in PATH
• make
• python3

Quick checks:

rustc --version
cargo --version
clang --version
make --version
python3 --version

2. Build the CLI

From the repository root:

cargo build --release

This produces the binary at:

target/release/aic

3. Install aic for shell usage

Choose one of these options.

Option A: Cargo install (recommended)

cargo install --path . --force

Option B: Use the built binary directly

export PATH="$(pwd)/target/release:$PATH"

If you use zsh, add the same export PATH=... line to ~/.zshrc and reload your shell.

4. Install the global standard library

Run setup once after installing the CLI:

aic setup

Default global std install path:

~/.aic/toolchains/<aic-version>/std

Optional overrides:

• AIC_HOME: changes base directory (<AIC_HOME>/toolchains/<aic-version>/std)
• AIC_STD_ROOT: sets an explicit std directory
• aic setup --std-root /absolute/path/to/std

5. Verify installation

aic --version
aic setup --std-root "$(mktemp -d)/std"

The setup command should print:

installed AICore standard library at <path>

6. Create and run a project

aic init hello_aic
cd hello_aic
aic check src/main.aic
aic run src/main.aic

aic init does not copy std/ into the project. std imports resolve from the global toolchain install.

Troubleshooting

aic: command not found

• Re-open the terminal after install.
• Confirm cargo bin is in PATH (typically ~/.cargo/bin).
• Or add target/release to PATH if using the local binary directly.

aic setup cannot resolve install location

Set one of these and retry:

export AIC_HOME="$HOME/.aic"
# or
export AIC_STD_ROOT="$HOME/.aic/toolchains/manual/std"

std.* imports fail

• Run aic setup again.
• Confirm the std root contains files like io.aic.
• If needed, pin explicit location with AIC_STD_ROOT.