Getting Started

Welcome to Alchira—the declarative UI language that treats structure and style as a single, unified intent.

In traditional web development, you are often forced to juggle HTML templates and CSS stylesheets, bridging the gap with fragile class names. Alchira eliminates this friction by fusing them into a single source of truth.

End-User License Agreement (EULA)

By using this software, you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the End-User License Agreement.

How it Works

1. Sketch your UI: Wrap your elements in a <sketch> to define a regional boundary.
2. Declare Intent: Use symlinks (like global$header) to attach style rules directly to your structure.
3. Use Smart Tokens: Apply your pre-defined layout logic (Hashrules and Global design tokens) to make your components responsive by default.
4. Compile: The Alchira compiler distills your "rich declaration" into lean, production-ready HTML and CSS.

Node Package

• Alchira is distributed via npm.
• Custom flavors created by independent developers are also published on npm.
• You can install an existing flavor for your project, or create a personal flavor and reuse it across projects.
• To start your own flavor, use the scaffold template: https://github.com/alchira/scaffold

Core runtime (alchira)

• Package: alchira
• Installs the appropriate core binary for your OS.
• Provides the CLI used to orchestrate flavors and run builds.

# Local Installation
npm install -g alchira
# Local Command Run
alchira {command}
al {command}

# Global Installation
npm install --save-dev alchira
# Global Command Run
npx alchira {command}
npx al {command}

Flavored Template (@alchira/scaffold)

• Link: @alchira/scaffold
• alchira will be installed along with flavor and all the commands will work the same manner.
• To initialize flavour run

# Local Initialization
npx al init {flavor-package-name}

# Global Initialization
al init {flavor-package-name}

Editor extension

• Available on: VS Marketplace | Open VSX
• Adds full language support and extra tooling for Alchira configured projects.
• Bundles an Alchira core, so no separate install is required for small workflows.
• Plug‑and‑play setup, ideal for trying Alchira or for small projects.

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Clone the tutorial repository for an interactive walkthrough guide:

git clone https://github.com/alchira/tutorial.git