Quickstart: Your First A.R.C. Platform

This guide takes you from zero to a running A.R.C. platform in under 5 minutes.

Step 1: Initialize a Workspace

arc workspace init ./my-project

This creates a workspace directory with:

my-project/
├── arc.yaml          # Workspace manifest (source of truth)
├── .env              # Environment variables
├── .gitignore        # Git ignore rules
└── .arc/
    ├── state/        # Workspace state
    ├── data/         # Persistent data
    └── generated/    # Generated configs (don't edit these)

Step 2: Configure Features

Open arc.yaml and enable the features you need:

version: "1.0.0"

features:
  voice: true         # Scarlett (Voice Agent) + Daredevil (LiveKit)
  security: true      # J.A.R.V.I.S. (Auth) + Nick Fury (Secrets)
  observability: false # Dr. House + Watson + Friday (Monitoring stack)
  chaos: false         # T-800 (Resilience testing)

environment:
  LOG_LEVEL: "info"
  ENVIRONMENT: "development"

Step 3: Launch the Platform

cd my-project
arc workspace run

This generates a complete docker-compose.yml and launches your platform. With the default configuration (voice + security), approximately 20 services start up:

Codename	Service	What It Does
Heimdall	Traefik	API gateway — routes all traffic
Oracle	PostgreSQL	Long-term memory — relational data + pgvector
Sonic	Redis	Working memory — caching and sessions
Cerebro	Qdrant	Semantic search — vector embeddings
The Flash	NATS	Nervous system — ephemeral messaging
Dr. Strange	Pulsar	Time stone — durable event streaming
Mystique	Unleash	Feature flags — runtime configuration
Sherlock	Brain	Reasoning engine — LangGraph-powered AI
J.A.R.V.I.S.	Kratos	Identity — authentication and sessions
Nick Fury	Infisical	Secrets — API keys and credentials
Scarlett	Voice Agent	Voice interface — WebRTC conversations
Daredevil	LiveKit	Real-time — voice/video infrastructure
...and more

Step 4: Verify Everything Is Running

# Check workspace status
arc workspace info

# View running containers
docker ps --filter "name=arc-" --format "table {{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Ports}}"

Key Service URLs

Service	URL	Credentials
Heimdall (Gateway)	http://localhost:8080	—
Mystique (Feature Flags)	http://localhost:4242	See .env
Friday (Grafana)	http://localhost:3000	See .env (if observability enabled)

What Just Happened?

With a single arc workspace run, A.R.C.:

1. Read your arc.yaml manifest
2. Resolved service dependencies (Sherlock needs Oracle, Sonic, Cerebro, and The Flash)
3. Generated a complete docker-compose.yml in .arc/generated/
4. Launched all services with health checks, resource limits, and proper networking
5. Wired Heimdall (Traefik) to auto-discover and route to every service

Your job now: Open the Sherlock (Brain) service and start writing your agent logic with LangGraph. The infrastructure is done.

Common Operations

# Run in background (detached mode)
arc workspace run --detached

# Generate configs without launching
arc workspace run --generate-only

# View workspace operation history
arc workspace history

# Stop the platform
docker compose -f .arc/generated/docker-compose.yml down

Troubleshooting

"Docker is not installed" or "Docker is not running"

Install Docker Desktop, start it, and wait for the whale icon in your system tray. Verify with docker ps.

Port conflict detected

Another process is using the same port. Update arc.yaml:

services:
  arc-gateway:
    config:
      port: 8081  # Changed from default 8080

Then regenerate: arc workspace run --generate-only

Services failing health checks

Your machine may not have enough resources. Check with docker stats and consider disabling unused features (set voice: false or security: false in arc.yaml).

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Next: Configure your platform → for detailed arc.yaml reference, tier selection, and environment variables.