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Installation

Two requirements. Node and Java.

Node.js

Minimum version: 18.0.0
Recommended version: 20+

Check your version:

node --version

Install or upgrade:

macOS:

brew install node@20

Ubuntu/Debian:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Windows: Download from nodejs.org

Java

Minimum version: 11

Required for diagram rendering (Structurizr CLI and PlantUML both need Java).

Check your version:

java -version

Install:

macOS:

brew install openjdk@17

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-17-jre

Windows: Download from Adoptium

Archlette will verify Java is available before rendering. Clear error messages if missing.

Archlette

Install as dev dependency:

npm install -D @chrislyons-dev/archlette

Or use directly via npx (no install needed):

npx @chrislyons-dev/archlette --help

Verify Installation

npx archlette --version

Should print the current version number.

Tool Auto-Download

First run downloads external tools to ~/.archlette/tools/:

  • Structurizr CLI — DSL export
  • PlantUML — Diagram rendering

Latest compatible versions downloaded automatically. Cached for all subsequent runs.

Cache location:

  • macOS/Linux: ~/.archlette/tools/
  • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.archlette\tools\

Clear cache to re-download:

rm -rf ~/.archlette/tools/

Next Steps