A source-first package management platform for Arch Linux — an orchestration and UX layer over pacman, makepkg, libalpm, PKGBUILD, and the AUR, unifying official repos, the AUR, and local/custom repos behind one CLI and TUI.

Status: Slice i1. search/info/install/remove/upgrade all work against official repos (via libalpm/pacman) and the AUR (via RPC API + git/makepkg).

Every mutating command shows a transaction preview and a confirmation prompt first; AUR builds additionally show the PKGBUILD (or a diff, on rebuilds/upgrades) with their own review step. Still missing: the TUI, build profiles, and everything else in SPEC.md Part IV.

Emrac uses "Slice i/r/u<N>" instead of semver — see CHANGELOG.md.

• Source-first, not source-only — builds from PKGBUILD locally when it's worthwhile, installs binaries when it isn't, and tells you why.
• Source Suitability Score & ETA engine — estimates build time, download size, and performance gain per package before you commit, refined by local build history.
• One interface, every source — official repos, AUR, local/custom repos, and locally built packages all searched, inspected, and installed the same way.
• CLI and TUI parity — no capability is exclusive to either interface.
• Build profiles with inheritance — reusable compiler/linker/LTO/PGO/march-mtune configurations instead of long flag lists per install.
• Transactional and reversible — dry-run previews, rollback, and snapshots for every mutating operation.
• Integrated modal editor — edit PKGBUILDs and configs without leaving the TUI, or fall back to $EDITOR.

SPEC.md is the complete specification:

• Vision & philosophy
• Full feature catalog
• Signature features (Install Planner, Explain, Package Score, Build Diff, Conflict Resolver, etc.)
• Command catalog, formal grammar (EBNF), and global/per-command option reference
• Architecture and process flowcharts (Mermaid)
• Implementation notes (language, integration strategy, milestone scope)

• Language: Rust
• System integration: hybrid — libalpm via FFI for fast read-only queries/indexing; shells out to the real pacman and makepkg binaries for anything that mutates system state, so pacman's own safety logic stays authoritative.
• First milestone: a core CLI loop (search / info / install / remove / upgrade against official repos + AUR) before the TUI, recommendation engine, build profiles, or integrated editor.
• Testing: real install/remove/build flows are exercised in a container or chroot, not against the live host, until the tool has proven itself trustworthy.

See SPEC.md Part X for details.

Requirements:

• A recent Rust toolchain (cargo, rustc)
• libalpm development headers (pacman.pc/alpm.h — already present on any Arch system with pacman installed)
• clang/libclang — the alpm crate generates its FFI bindings at build time (via bindgen) against whatever libalpm version is actually installed, rather than shipping bindings pinned to one version

cargo build --workspace
cargo run -p emrac-cli -- search ripgrep
cargo run -p emrac-cli -- info ripgrep --json
cargo run -p emrac-cli -- install ripgrep --dry-run   # preview only, safe on any machine
cargo run -p emrac-cli -- upgrade --dry-run           # preview only, safe on any machine

install/remove/upgrade preview (--dry-run) is read-only and safe to run directly. Actually running them mutates real system state via sudo pacman/makepkg — see dev/README.md for the disposable container used to test that without touching your host.

Not yet decided.