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@title Arcanist User Guide
@group userguide
Guide to Arcanist, a command-line interface to Phabricator.
Arcanist provides command-line access to many Phabricator tools (like
Differential, Files, and Paste), integrates with static analysis ("lint") and
unit tests, and manages common workflows like getting changes into Differential
for review.
A detailed command reference is available by running `arc help`. This
document provides an overview of common workflows and installation.
Arcanist has technical, contributor-focused documentation here:
<https://secure.phabricator.com/book/arcanist/>
= Quick Start =
A quick start guide is available at @{article:Arcanist Quick Start}. It provides
a much more compact summary of how to get `arc` set up and running for a new
project. You may want to start there, and return here if you need more
information.
= Overview =
Arcanist is a wrapper script that sits on top of other tools (e.g.,
Differential, linters, unit test frameworks, git, Mercurial, and SVN) and
provides a simple command-line API to manage code review and some related
revision control operations.
For a detailed list of all available commands, run:
$ arc help
For detailed information about a specific command, run:
$ arc help <command>
Arcanist allows you to do things like:
- get detailed help about available commands with `arc help`
- send your code to Differential for review with `arc diff` (for detailed
instructions, see @{article:Arcanist User Guide: arc diff})
- show pending revision information with `arc list`
- find likely reviewers for a change with `arc cover`
- apply changes in a revision to the working copy with `arc patch`
- download a patch from Differential with `arc export`
- update Git commit messages after review with `arc amend`
- commit SVN changes with `arc commit`
- push Git and Mercurial changes with `arc land`
- view enhanced information about Git branches with `arc branch`
Once you've configured lint and unit test integration, you can also:
- check your code for syntax and style errors with `arc lint`
(see @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Lint})
- run unit tests that cover your changes with `arc unit`
Arcanist integrates with other tools:
- upload and download files with `arc upload` and `arc download`
- create and view pastes with `arc paste`
Arcanist has some advanced features as well, you can:
- execute Conduit method calls with `arc call-conduit`
- create or update libphutil libraries with `arc liberate`
- activate tab completion with `arc shell-complete`
- ...or extend Arcanist and add new commands.
Except where otherwise noted, these workflows are generally agnostic to the
underlying version control system and will work properly in git, Mercurial, or
SVN repositories.
= Installing Arcanist =
Arcanist is meant to be installed on your local machine or development server --
whatever machine you're editing code on. It runs on:
- Linux;
- Other operating systems which are pretty similar to Linux, or which
Linux is pretty similar to;
- FreeBSD, a fine operating system held in great esteem by many;
- Mac OS X (see @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Mac OS X}); and
- Windows (see @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Windows}).
Arcanist is written in PHP, so you need to install the PHP CLI first if you
don't already have it. Arcanist should run on PHP 5.2 and newer. If you don't
have PHP installed, you can download it from <http://www.php.net/>.
To install Arcanist, pick an install directory and clone the code from GitHub:
some_install_path/ $ git clone https://github.com/phacility/libphutil.git
some_install_path/ $ git clone https://github.com/phacility/arcanist.git
This should leave you with a directory structure like this
some_install_path/ # Wherever you chose to install it.
arcanist/ # Arcanist-specific code and libraries.
libphutil/ # A shared library Arcanist depends upon.
Now add `some_install_path/arcanist/bin/` to your PATH environment variable.
When you type "arc", you should see something like this:
Usage Exception: No command provided. Try 'arc help'.
If you get that far, you've done things correctly. If you get an error or have
trouble getting this far, see these detailed guides:
- On Windows: @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Windows}
- On Mac OS X: @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Mac OS X}
You can later upgrade Arcanist and libphutil to the latest versions with
`arc upgrade`:
$ arc upgrade
== Installing Arcanist for a Team ==
Arcanist changes quickly, so it can be something of a headache to get it
installed and keep people up to date. Here are some approaches you might be
able to use:
- Facebook does most development on development servers, which have a standard
environment and NFS mounts. Arcanist and libphutil themselves live on an
NFS mount, and the default `.bashrc` adds them to the PATH. Updating the
mount source updates everyone's versions, and new employees have a working
`arc` when they first log in.
- Another common approach is to write an install script as an action into
existing build scripts, so users can run `make install-arc` or
`ant install-arc` or similar.
== Installing Tab Completion ==
If you use `bash`, you can set up tab completion by adding something like this
to your `.bashrc`, `.profile` or similar:
source /path/to/arcanist/resources/shell/bash-completion
== Configuration ==
Some Arcanist commands can be configured. This configuration is read from
three sources, in order:
# A project can specify configuration in an `.arcconfig` file. This file is
JSON, and can be updated using `arc set-config --local` or by editing
it manually.
# User configuration is read from `~/.arcconfig`. This file is JSON, and can
be updated using `arc set-config`.
# Host configuration is read from `/etc/arcconfig` (on Windows, the path
is `C:\ProgramData\Phabricator\Arcanist\config`).
Arcanist uses the first definition it encounters as the runtime setting.
Existing settings can be printed with `arc get-config`.
Use `arc help set-config` and `arc help get-config` for more information
about reading and writing configuration.
== Next Steps ==
Continue by:
- setting up a new project for use with `arc`, with
@{article:Arcanist User Guide: Configuring a New Project}; or
- learning how to use `arc` to send changes for review with
@{article:Arcanist User Guide: arc diff}.
Advanced topics are also available. These are detailed guides to configuring
technical features of `arc` that refine its behavior. You do not need to read
them to get it working.
- @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Commit Ranges}
- @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Lint}
- @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Customizing Existing Linters}
- @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Customizing Lint, Unit Tests and Workflows}
- @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Code Coverage}

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