Installing Environments¶

The core idea¶

alloy-provisioner is a single binary that reads a blueprint and installs a complete build environment into any Linux system. The same blueprint, the same result, regardless of whether the target is a PC, laptop, or server, a VM created by any tool, or a Docker container.

flowchart LR
    HUB["Alloy Hub\nalloy-it.io"]
    BP["Local Blueprint\ndirectory"]
    PROV["alloy-provisioner"]

    HUB -->|"alloy-provisioner install"| PROV
    BP -->|"install --blueprint-dir"| PROV

    PROV --> ENV1["Linux machine\n(PC / laptop / server / test rack)"]
    PROV --> ENV2["VM\n(any hypervisor)"]
    PROV --> ENV3["Docker image"]

What alloy-provisioner does¶

Given a blueprint directory, alloy-provisioner:

Reads manifest.yml to understand variables, toolchain refs, and task order.
Executes each task file in the declared order (install packages, download toolchains, write env files, run commands).
Tracks what it has done in alloy.state.yml so re-runs skip completed tasks.
Verifies every downloaded file against its SHA256 checksum.

All three installation paths below use the same provisioner. There is no difference in the resulting environment.

Blueprints from Alloy Hub¶

Alloy Hub hosts community-maintained blueprints. You can pull and install them in one step:

alloy-provisioner install community/arm-none-eabi

Or search the catalog locally:

alloy-host catalog update
alloy-host catalog search arm

Choose your path¶

Path	When to use
On Linux (Native)	PC, laptop, or server, test rack, existing VM, WSL2: any Linux system you already manage
With Alloy Host	Developer workstation: isolate environments without touching the host
In a Docker Image	Replace complex Dockerfiles with a declarative blueprint; CI base images

For provisioner subcommands and flags (install, clone, --blueprint-dir, etc.), see Provisioner CLI.