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Native Installation

Install Arc directly on Linux using native packages (.deb, .rpm) or build from source.

Prerequisites​

  • Linux (x86_64 or ARM64)
  • 4GB RAM minimum, 8GB+ recommended
  • systemd (for service management)

Quick Install​

# Download and install
wget https://github.com/basekick-labs/arc/releases/download/v25.12.1/arc_25.12.1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i arc_25.12.1_amd64.deb

# Enable and start
sudo systemctl enable arc && sudo systemctl start arc

# Verify
curl http://localhost:8000/health

For ARM64:

wget https://github.com/basekick-labs/arc/releases/download/v25.12.1/arc_25.12.1_arm64.deb
sudo dpkg -i arc_25.12.1_arm64.deb
sudo systemctl enable arc && sudo systemctl start arc

Get Your Admin Token​

When Arc starts for the first time, it generates an admin token.

Save This Token

Copy this token immediately - you won't see it again!

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

You should see:

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

Save it:

export ARC_TOKEN="arc_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Storage Backends​

Local Filesystem - Default, data stored on disk.

Edit /etc/arc/arc.toml:

[storage]
backend = "local"
local_path = "/var/lib/arc/data"

Or via environment:

ARC_STORAGE_BACKEND=local
ARC_STORAGE_LOCAL_PATH=/var/lib/arc/data

Service Management​

Start/Stop/Restart​

sudo systemctl start arc      # Start
sudo systemctl stop arc       # Stop
sudo systemctl restart arc    # Restart
sudo systemctl status arc     # Status

View Logs​

sudo journalctl -u arc -f            # Follow logs
sudo journalctl -u arc -n 100        # Last 100 lines
sudo journalctl -u arc --since "1 hour ago"

Enable/Disable Auto-Start​

sudo systemctl enable arc     # Enable on boot
sudo systemctl disable arc    # Disable on boot

Configuration​

Configuration file: /etc/arc/arc.toml

sudo nano /etc/arc/arc.toml
sudo systemctl restart arc

Common Options​

[server]
port = 8000

[storage]
backend = "local"
local_path = "/var/lib/arc/data"

[auth]
enabled = true

[compaction]
enabled = true
hourly_enabled = true
daily_enabled = true

[wal]
enabled = false  # Enable for zero data loss
sync_mode = "fdatasync"

[log]
level = "info"
format = "json"

See Configuration Overview for all options.

Data Directory​

Installation TypeDefault Data Directory
Package install/var/lib/arc/data
Source build./data/arc

Updating Arc​

wget https://github.com/basekick-labs/arc/releases/download/v25.12.1/arc_25.12.1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i arc_25.12.1_amd64.deb
sudo systemctl restart arc

Uninstalling​

sudo systemctl stop arc
sudo dpkg -r arc

# Optional: Remove data
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/arc /etc/arc

Troubleshooting​

Arc Won't Start​

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u arc -n 50

# Check port availability
sudo lsof -i :8000

Permission Errors​

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/arc/data
sudo chown -R arc:arc /var/lib/arc

Memory Issues​

Override in /etc/arc/arc.toml:

[database]
memory_limit = "4GB"
max_connections = 16
thread_count = 8

Next Steps​