Install

Autolith ships as a Nix runtime, a packaged binary, or a source checkout. Pick one route; you can switch later without losing state, because state lives in your XDG directories either way.

Install with Nix

Nix is the recommended route: it pins the complete build and carries the sandbox helper with it.

terminal

$ nix run github:lambda-symbolics/autolith

The first launch builds the Lisp images Autolith needs. They live below ~/.local/share/autolith/nix/images/, and the next start reuses them.

Install the packaged release

terminal

$ curl -fsSL https://sh.lambda-symbolics.com/autolith | sh

The installer fetches the archive for your platform and installs the launcher. Read the installer before piping it into a shell; the product page says more about that tradeoff.

Platforms: Linux x86-64 and aarch64 (glibc and fully static musl), macOS x86-64 and arm64, FreeBSD x86-64, NetBSD x86-64, OpenBSD x86-64.
Bundled runtime: SBCL 2.6.6, Lisp dependencies, and native helpers.
Sandboxing: Linux uses Bubblewrap for sandboxed commands; Nix installs it, binary releases require it.

Build from source

terminal

$ git clone https://github.com/lambda-symbolics/autolith
$ cd autolith
$ ./script/bootstrap
$ ./script/check

macOS needs a host SBCL, Quicklisp, Rust, CMake, pkg-config, and OpenSSL. Linux additionally needs Bubblewrap. The guide's Source checkout section walks through the full sequence.

Keep it current

terminal and prompt window

$ autolith --update

(update)

Installed releases also check for newer tags at most once every 20 hours and ask before updating.