Install Anim

Anim is distributed as a preview CLI for macOS, Linux, and Windows. The current release is a proprietary 0.1 build; the documentation and examples are MIT licensed.

Preview software

The language and CLI can change between builds. Pin the binary you use in automated pipelines and keep important .anim source in version control.

macOS and Linux

The setup script detects your operating system and CPU architecture, downloads the matching archive over HTTPS, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, installs anim to ~/.local/bin, and adds that directory to your shell path.

curl --proto '=https' \
  --tlsv1.2 -fsSL \
  https://anim-lang.org/setup.sh | bash

Running the same command updates or repairs the installation. If you prefer to inspect a script before executing it:

curl --proto '=https' \
  --tlsv1.2 -fsSLo setup-anim.sh \
  https://anim-lang.org/setup.sh
less setup-anim.sh
bash setup-anim.sh

Restart your shell, then verify the result:

anim --version
anim --help

Set ANIM_INSTALL_DIR to an absolute path before running the script if you do not want the default ~/.local/bin.

Windows

Download the current Windows x86-64 archive and its SHA-256 checksum. In PowerShell, compare the downloaded file with the published checksum:

(Get-FileHash .\anim-windows-x86_64.tar.gz -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
Get-Content .\anim-windows-x86_64.tar.gz.sha256

After the values match, extract the archive and either run anim.exe from the extracted directory or add that directory to your user Path.

tar -xzf .\anim-windows-x86_64.tar.gz
.\anim-windows-x86_64\anim.exe --version

Windows ARM64 does not have a native preview build yet.

Your first check

Save the following as hello.anim:

export let main = composition(
  width: 320px,
  height: 180px,
  duration: 2s,
  fps: 60fps,
  scene: rect(
    x: 56px,
    y: 36px,
    width: 208px,
    height: 108px,
    fill: #087ea4
  )
);

Check it, inspect its exact timing, and render an SVG:

anim check hello.anim
anim inspect hello.anim
anim render hello.anim --frame 0 -o hello.svg

Continue with the tutorial when those commands succeed.

VS Code

Install the matching extension artifact after installing the CLI. The preview release publishes a checksummed anim-lang.vsix beside every native build:

curl --proto '=https' \
  --tlsv1.2 -fsSLo anim-lang.vsix \
  https://anim-lang.org/releases/latest/anim-lang.vsix
code --install-extension anim-lang.vsix

Opening a .anim file then enables diagnostics, completion, hover, definition, references, renaming, formatting, document symbols, and semantic highlighting. Use Anim: Open Preview Beside for editable Canvas playback, parameter controls, and click-to-source navigation from visible preview artwork. The preview is intentionally non-canonical; use anim render when exact pixels are the contract.

The extension launches anim lsp from PATH. If the CLI lives elsewhere, set the user-level anim.server.path setting to its absolute path. Because Anim is still 0.x, the extension and CLI must come from the same exact release.

See the VS Code extension guide for the full feature list and troubleshooting notes.

Update, pin, or remove

• Update: rerun the setup command. It installs the newest preview release.
• Pin: download a versioned artifact from the release manifest, verify its listed SHA-256 value, and store that exact binary with your pipeline tooling.
• Remove on macOS/Linux: delete ~/.local/bin/anim, ~/.config/anim/env, and the small block between # >>> anim setup >>> and # <<< anim setup <<< in the shell profile files the installer updated.
• Remove on Windows: delete the extracted directory and remove its entry from your user Path, if you added one.

The setup script never requires administrator access. Review setup.sh for the exact install behavior.