API Preview - This API is under active development. Endpoints may change without notice.

Install on Arch Linux (AUR)

Install the ~alter CLI and the local identity runtime on Arch Linux and Arch-based distributions (Manjaro, EndeavourOS, Garuda) via the Arch User Repository. The runtime package wraps the upstream truealter PyPI distribution and registers a systemd user service named alter-runtime. The runtime is optional. The CLI on its own is enough to claim a ~handle, pair connectors and answer queries.

What you get

•alter-runtime binary on $PATH.
•Systemd user unit alter-runtime.service for socket-activated startup.
•Default config root at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/alter/ and runtime socket at $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/alter-runtime.sock.

Install

Two packages are published to the AUR under the truealter maintainer. truealter-cli is the CLI and is what most people want. alter-runtime-git is the local runtime, tracking the daemon’s main branch.

yay -S truealter-cli

A tagged runtime release is not on the AUR yet. Only the -git runtime package is published. If you want a pinned runtime rather than one that tracks main, install it from PyPI until the release package lands. The CLI is also available via npm on any platform.

Start the daemon

bash

systemctl --user enable --now alter-runtime.service

Verify

bash

alter-runtime --version
systemctl --user status alter-runtime.service

Cross-platform unity

However a person installs alter-runtime, the runtime they get is the same runtime everyone else gets: same socket protocol, same ~handle resolution, same DNS-TXT discovery, same federation endpoints. Per-distro packaging optimises for local idioms (PKGBUILD on Arch, .deb on Debian, Formula on macOS) without diverging the substrate. The full operative invariants are documented in packaging/README.md.

Next steps

Getting started

Bind a ~handle and make your first authenticated request.

~handle protocol

How ~handle resolution works on top of the running daemon.