Your first Arandu project

Welcome. In a few minutes, you will create a real project, validate its code with the CLI, and run the program. The tour then explores how Arandu keeps ownership, errors, and diagnostics under control.

Installation

Install Arandu and confirm that the command is available:

curl -sSf https://arandu.dev/install | sh
arandu --version
Tip

If something is wrong with your environment, run arandu doctor. It checks the installation and points out what needs to be fixed.

Create a project

The CLI prepares the initial structure for you. Create a project and move into its directory:

arandu new hello_arandu
cd hello_arandu

arandu.toml identifies the project, and src/main.aru is the default entry point. Open that file to see the starter program:

module my_app

import io

func main(): int {
    io.println("Hello, Arandu!")
    return 0
}

Check, run, and build

The daily workflow starts with check: it finds errors without running the program. Then use run to execute it and build to produce a native binary:

arandu check
arandu run
arandu build

You should see Hello, Arandu! when you run the project. To test a single file, the CLI also accepts arandu check path/to/file.aru and arandu run path/to/file.aru.

Guarantee

main returns an integer status code: 0 means the program finished normally. The compiler validates this signature before execution.

What you just used

  • Reproducible project — configuration, entry point, and dependencies stay organized in the project directory.
  • Fast CLI feedback — check separates validation from execution, and doctor helps investigate the environment.
  • Native compilation — build turns the project into a binary for distribution.

Now continue to the tour to learn about linear ownership, Result, and diagnostics that explain how to fix your code.