Skip to main content

​
Quick install

The fastest way to install Ant is using the official installation script: 
curl -fsSL https://ant.themackabu.com/install | bash
This will download and install the latest version of Ant for your platform.

​
Install with mbedTLS

By default, Ant uses OpenSSL for TLS operations. If you prefer mbedTLS (a lighter alternative), install with: 
curl -fsSL https://ant.themackabu.com/install | MBEDTLS=1 bash
mbedTLS is useful for embedded or constrained environments where a smaller binary size is preferred.

​
Verify installation

After installation, verify that Ant is working correctly: 
ant --version
You should see the Ant version printed to your terminal.

​
Supported platforms

Ant provides official binaries for the following platforms:

​
Linux (glibc)

  • x64 - Ubuntu 22.04 and compatible distributions
  • aarch64 - Ubuntu 22.04 ARM64 and compatible distributions

​
Linux (musl)

  • x64 - Alpine Linux and other musl-based distributions (statically linked)
  • aarch64 - Alpine Linux ARM64 (statically linked)
musl builds are statically linked and don’t require any system dependencies.

​
Building from source

If you want to build Ant from source or need a custom configuration, see BUILDING.md for detailed instructions.

​
Prerequisites for building

Building Ant requires:
  • C compiler with C23 support (GCC >= 14 or Clang >= 18)
  • Meson build system and Ninja backend
  • CMake (for subprojects)
  • Node.js >= 22 (for generating JS snapshots)
  • Rust toolchain (stable)
  • Zig >= 0.15
  • pkg-config
  • Git
System libraries:
  • OpenSSL or mbedTLS
  • libsodium
  • libuuid (Linux/macOS)

​
Build steps

1

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/theMackabu/ant.git
cd ant
2

Download subprojects

meson subprojects download
3

Configure the build

meson setup build
Or for a custom configuration:
meson setup build -Dtls_library=mbedtls -Dstatic_link=true
4

Compile

meson compile -C build
5

Verify the build

./build/ant --version
./build/ant -e "console.log('Hello from Ant ' + Ant.version)"
If you have maid installed, you can use simplified commands:
maid setup   # downloads subprojects + configures
maid build   # compiles
maid run <file>  # builds and runs

​
Package managers

Currently, Ant is not available through system package managers like Homebrew, apt, or Chocolatey. We recommend using the official installation script.
Package manager support is planned for future releases. Track progress in the GitHub repository.

​
Updating Ant

To update to the latest version of Ant, simply run the installation script again: 
curl -fsSL https://ant.themackabu.com/install | bash
This will replace your existing installation with the latest version.

​
Uninstalling

To uninstall Ant, remove the binary from your system: 
# Find where Ant is installed
which ant

# Remove the binary
rm $(which ant)

# Also remove antx symlink if present
rm $(which antx)
The default installation location is ~/.ant/bin/ant.

​
Next steps

Quick start

Build your first Ant application

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us