Quick Start

Get hica running and compile your first program in a few minutes.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites for the pre-built binary — the install script handles everything.

Building from source requires Koka ≥ 3.2.

Install hica

Linux / macOS / Chromebook

curl -fsSL https://www.hica.dev/install.sh | sh

This downloads the latest release binary and installs it to ~/.local/bin. Make sure that directory is on your PATH.

To install elsewhere:

curl -fsSL https://www.hica.dev/install.sh | HICA_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin sh

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://www.hica.dev/install.ps1 | iex

This installs hica to %LOCALAPPDATA%\hica and adds it to your user PATH. Override the install directory with $env:HICA_INSTALL_DIR.

Verify the installation:

hica --version

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/cladam/hica.git
cd hica
make release
./hica --version

Run Your First Programs

Create hello.hc:

fun main() {
  println("Hello, world!")
}

Then build and run it:

./hica run hello.hc

Output:

Hello, world!

run transpiles the file to Koka, compiles it, and executes the result.

CLI Commands

Command Description
hica run <file> Compile and run a .hc file
hica build <file> Compile a .hc file and build a binary
hica check <file> Analyse a .hc file and report errors
hica fmt <file> Format a .hc file according to the style guide
hica repl Start an interactive REPL
hica test <file> Run tests in a .hc file
hica new <name> Create a new hica project
hica init Initialise a project in the current directory
hica add <dep> Add a dependency
hica remove <dep> Remove a dependency
hica fetch Fetch all dependencies
hica clean Remove generated build artifacts
hica help <command> Show help for a command

Short aliases work too: hica r, hica b, hica c, hica f, hica t.

Useful global options:

Option Description
--target=js Compile to JavaScript instead of native
--output=NAME Output binary name (with build)
--check Check formatting without modifying the file
--cache Remove the stdlib cache (~/.hica/stdlib/)

Try the Examples

The repo ships with ready-to-run examples:

./hica run examples/hello.hc
./hica run examples/fizzbuzz.hc
./hica run examples/pipe.hc
./hica run examples/match.hc
./hica run examples/closures.hc

Multi-file Projects

Split code across files with import. Mark shared functions with pub:

// helpers.hc
pub fun double(x) => x * 2

// main.hc
import "helpers"

fun main() {
  println(double(5))
}

See the Language Reference for selective imports and re-exporting.

Next Steps