Installation¶

Installing CREATOR CLI¶

Installation via precompiled Binary¶

The easiest way to get started with the CLI version is to use the precompiled binaries. They include everything you need to run CREATOR without additional dependencies. Download the latest precompiled binary for your OS from the releases page and place it in a directory included in your system's PATH as creator-cli.

You're all set! You can verify the installation by running:

creator-cli --help

To access the CLI from any terminal, ensure the binary is in your PATH or create a symbolic link to it in a directory that is.

Building from Source¶

Alternatively, you can build the CREATOR CLI locally.

Prerequisites¶

Git is required to download the project.
Deno must be installed on your system. Follow the instructions on the Deno website to install it.
Bun is the recommended package manager to install dependencies[^1].

Steps¶

Clone the CREATOR repository:

git clone https://github.com/creatorsim-development/creator-beta.git --recurse-submodules --depth=1 && cd creator-beta

Install dependencies:
```
bun install
```
Build the CLI:
```
bun build:cli
```
Warning

This build script requires having Bun installed, but if you don't want to, you can use another package manager (e.g., NPM) and do:
```
npm wasm:cli && npm build:cli:native
```
Test your installation:
```
creator-cli --help
```
You should see the CREATOR help message with available options.

Note

You can also just run the CLI without building with Deno:

deno run --allow-all src/cli/creator6.mts --help

Getting Architecture Files¶

CREATOR requires architecture definition files to simulate different processors. These files are in YAML format and define the instruction set, registers, memory layout, and other architecture-specific details.

Default Architectures¶

The repository includes several architecture files in the architecture/ directory. The releases also include an architectures.zip file with the same contents.

Currently, the following architectures are provided:

RV32IMFD.yml - RISC-V 32-bit (with interrupts)
RV64IMFD.yml - RISC-V 64-bit
MIPS32.yml - MIPS 32-bit
Z80.yml - Z80 8-bit processor (with interrupts)

Configuration¶

The CLI version supports user configuration via a YAML file located at:

macOS/Linux: ~/.config/creator/config.yml
Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.config\creator\config.yml

This file is automatically created with defaults on first run. See the Configuration section for details.

Updating¶

If you installed via precompiled binaries, download the latest version from the releases page.

To update the CLI version, pull the latest changes from the repository and reinstall dependencies:

git pull origin main && bun install

Next Steps¶

Proceed to the Command-Line Options to learn how to run programs with different architectures and settings.

[^1:] Other Node package managers like NPM or yarn should work, but your mileage might vary.