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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:

  1. Reads manifest.yml to understand variables, toolchain refs, and task order.
  2. Executes each task file in the declared order (install packages, download toolchains, write env files, run commands).
  3. Tracks what it has done in alloy.state.yml so re-runs skip completed tasks.
  4. Verifies SHA256 checksums where the blueprint action requires them (e.g. get_file, unarchive_from_url); other download paths depend on the action.

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/nordic/nrf91:1.1.3

List published blueprints:

alloy-provisioner clone --list community

Search toolchain descriptors in the local catalog (after catalog update):

alloy-provisioner catalog update
alloy-provisioner 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.