Getting Started

Get Arc up and running in 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• 4GB RAM minimum, 8GB+ recommended
• Docker, Kubernetes, or Linux (Debian/RHEL)

License Key Setup

Before enabling enterprise features, configure your license key:

info

A license key is required for enterprise features (clustering, RBAC, tiered storage, audit logging, query governance, query management, automated scheduling). Core features like ingestion, querying, and compaction work without a license.

Add to arc.toml:

[license]
key = "ARC-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"

Or set the environment variable:

export ARC_LICENSE_KEY="ARC-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"

Quick Start

Docker

docker run -d \
  --name arc \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -v arc-data:/app/data \
  ghcr.io/basekick-labs/arc:latest

Kubernetes

helm install arc https://github.com/basekick-labs/arc/releases/latest/download/arc.tgz
kubectl port-forward svc/arc 8000:8000

Debian/Ubuntu

wget https://github.com/basekick-labs/arc/releases/latest/download/arc_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i arc_amd64.deb
sudo systemctl enable arc && sudo systemctl start arc

RHEL/Fedora

wget https://github.com/basekick-labs/arc/releases/latest/download/arc-1.x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm -i arc-1.x86_64.rpm
sudo systemctl enable arc && sudo systemctl start arc

Verify it's running:

curl http://localhost:8000/health

Get Your Admin Token

Arc generates an admin token on first startup. Copy it immediately - you won't see it again!

Docker

docker logs arc 2>&1 | grep -i "admin"

Kubernetes

kubectl logs -l app=arc | grep -i "admin"

Native (systemd)

sudo journalctl -u arc | grep -i "admin"

You'll see:

======================================================================
  FIRST RUN - INITIAL ADMIN TOKEN GENERATED
======================================================================
  Initial admin API token: arc_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
======================================================================

Save it:

export ARC_TOKEN="arc_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Write Data

MessagePack (18.6M rec/s)

import msgpack
import requests
from datetime import datetime
import os

token = os.getenv("ARC_TOKEN")

data = {
    "m": "cpu",
    "columns": {
        "time": [int(datetime.now().timestamp() * 1000)],
        "host": ["server01"],
        "usage_idle": [95.0],
        "usage_user": [3.2]
    }
}

response = requests.post(
    "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/write/msgpack",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/msgpack",
        "x-arc-database": "default"
    },
    data=msgpack.packb(data)
)

Line Protocol

# InfluxDB 1.x compatible endpoint
curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/write?db=default&p=$ARC_TOKEN" \
  --data-binary "cpu,host=server01 usage_idle=95.0,usage_user=3.2"

# Or with Authorization header
curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/write?db=default" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARC_TOKEN" \
  --data-binary "cpu,host=server01 usage_idle=95.0,usage_user=3.2"

Python SDK

from arc_client import ArcClient

with ArcClient(host="localhost", token="your-token") as client:
    client.write.write_columnar(
        measurement="cpu",
        columns={
            "time": [1704067200000],
            "host": ["server01"],
            "usage_idle": [95.0],
        },
    )

Query Data

curl

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/v1/query \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARC_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sql": "SELECT * FROM default.cpu LIMIT 10", "format": "json"}'

Python

import requests
import os

token = os.getenv("ARC_TOKEN")

response = requests.post(
    "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/query",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
    json={"sql": "SELECT * FROM default.cpu LIMIT 10", "format": "json"}
)

print(response.json())

Arrow (2.64M rows/s)

import requests
import pyarrow as pa
import os

token = os.getenv("ARC_TOKEN")

response = requests.post(
    "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/query/arrow",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
    json={"sql": "SELECT * FROM default.cpu LIMIT 10000"}
)

reader = pa.ipc.open_stream(response.content)
df = reader.read_all().to_pandas()
print(df.head())

Next Steps

• Python SDK - Official client with DataFrame support
• Telegraf Integration - Collect system metrics
• Apache Superset - Build dashboards
• Configuration - Tune Arc for your workload

Troubleshooting

Docker

docker logs arc

Kubernetes

kubectl logs -l app=arc
kubectl describe pod -l app=arc

Native

sudo journalctl -u arc -n 50
sudo systemctl status arc

Common Issues

Authentication errors: Make sure ARC_TOKEN is set and included in headers.

No data returned: Data may not be flushed yet. Force flush:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/v1/write/line-protocol/flush \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARC_TOKEN"

Need Help?

• Discord Community
• GitHub Issues