From 8cec8d6546bffe7ae10cb58d351e99f36fa01381 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bryan Helmkamp <bryan@brynary.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2026 13:00:36 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Add `arc init` command to initialize a new arc project

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 AGENTS.md                      |  2 +-
 lib/crates/arc-cli/src/init.rs | 70 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs |  7 ++++
 3 files changed, 78 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 lib/crates/arc-cli/src/init.rs

diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index b705634b0..0c1ab5418 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ The OpenAPI spec at `docs/api-reference/arc-api.yaml` is the source of truth for
 Arc is an AI-powered workflow orchestration platform. Workflows are defined as DOT graphs, where each node is a stage (agent, prompt, command, conditional, human, parallel, etc.) executed by the workflow engine.
 
 ### Rust crates (`lib/crates/`)
-- **arc-cli** — CLI entry point. Commands: `run`, `exec`, `serve`, `validate`, `parse`, `cp`, `model`, `doctor`, `install`, `ps`, `system prune`, `llm`
+- **arc-cli** — CLI entry point. Commands: `run`, `exec`, `serve`, `validate`, `parse`, `cp`, `model`, `doctor`, `init`, `install`, `ps`, `system prune`, `llm`
 - **arc-workflows** — Core workflow engine. Parses DOT graphs, runs stages, manages checkpoints/resume, hooks, retros, and human-in-the-loop interactions
 - **arc-agent** — AI coding agent with tool use (Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, WebFetch). `Sandbox` trait abstracts execution environments
 - **arc-api** — Axum HTTP server. Routes for runs, sessions, models, completions, usage. SSE event streaming. Demo mode via header
diff --git a/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/init.rs b/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/init.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d68ab671
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/init.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+use anyhow::{bail, Context, Result};
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+pub async fn run_init() -> Result<()> {
+    let output = std::process::Command::new("git")
+        .args(["rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"])
+        .output()
+        .context("failed to run git")?;
+
+    if !output.status.success() {
+        bail!("not a git repository — run `git init` first");
+    }
+
+    let repo_root = PathBuf::from(
+        String::from_utf8(output.stdout)
+            .context("git output was not valid UTF-8")?
+            .trim(),
+    );
+
+    let arc_toml = repo_root.join("arc.toml");
+    if arc_toml.exists() {
+        bail!(
+            "already initialized — arc.toml exists at {}",
+            arc_toml.display()
+        );
+    }
+
+    // Create arc.toml
+    std::fs::write(&arc_toml, "version = 1\n\n[arc]\nroot = \"arc/\"\n")
+        .with_context(|| format!("failed to write {}", arc_toml.display()))?;
+    eprintln!("Created {}", arc_toml.display());
+
+    // Create hello workflow directory
+    let workflow_dir = repo_root.join("arc/workflows/hello");
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(&workflow_dir)
+        .with_context(|| format!("failed to create {}", workflow_dir.display()))?;
+
+    // Create workflow.dot
+    let dot_path = workflow_dir.join("workflow.dot");
+    std::fs::write(
+        &dot_path,
+        r#"digraph Hello {
+    graph [goal="Say hello and demonstrate a basic arc workflow"]
+    rankdir=LR
+
+    start [shape=Mdiamond, label="Start"]
+    exit  [shape=Msquare, label="Exit"]
+
+    greet [label="Greet", prompt="Say hello! Introduce yourself and explain that this is a test of the arc workflow engine."]
+
+    start -> greet -> exit
+}
+"#,
+    )
+    .with_context(|| format!("failed to write {}", dot_path.display()))?;
+    eprintln!("Created {}", dot_path.display());
+
+    // Create workflow.toml
+    let toml_path = workflow_dir.join("workflow.toml");
+    std::fs::write(
+        &toml_path,
+        "version = 1\ngraph = \"workflow.dot\"\n\n[sandbox]\nprovider = \"local\"\n",
+    )
+    .with_context(|| format!("failed to write {}", toml_path.display()))?;
+    eprintln!("Created {}", toml_path.display());
+
+    eprintln!("\nProject initialized! Run a workflow with:\n  arc run arc/workflows/hello/workflow.toml --no-retro");
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs b/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs
index 4936b0c31..03ba5fde0 100644
--- a/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/lib/crates/arc-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 mod cli_config;
 mod doctor;
+mod init;
 mod install;
 mod logging;
 
@@ -85,6 +86,8 @@ enum Command {
         #[arg(short, long)]
         live: bool,
     },
+    /// Initialize a new arc project
+    Init,
     /// Set up the Arc environment (LLMs, certs, GitHub)
     Install,
     /// List workflow runs
@@ -191,6 +194,7 @@ async fn main_inner() -> Result<()> {
         #[cfg(feature = "server")]
         Command::Serve(_) => "serve",
         Command::Doctor { .. } => "doctor",
+        Command::Init => "init",
         Command::Install => "install",
         Command::Ps(_) => "ps",
         Command::Pr { .. } => "pr",
@@ -396,6 +400,9 @@ async fn main_inner() -> Result<()> {
             let exit_code = doctor::run_doctor(verbose, live).await;
             std::process::exit(exit_code);
         }
+        Command::Init => {
+            init::run_init().await?;
+        }
         Command::Install => {
             install::run_install().await?;
         }