# 1 · Getting started

This guide gets ASysT installed and your first diagram on screen — about 5 minutes.

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## Install — two ways to get the same app

ASysT carries its own engine, language server, and runtime. Pick the channel that fits you; the app,
the models, and the licence key are identical in both.

### Option A — standalone app (no VS Code)

**Windows x64**

1. **Download the zip** from <https://asyst-rendering.fr/download.html> and extract it anywhere
   (Desktop, `D:\Tools`, a USB stick).
2. **Double-click `ASysT Rendering.exe`.** The first time, Windows may show a **SmartScreen** notice
   ("Windows protected your PC") — expected for a small unsigned alpha tool: click **More info →
   Run anyway**. A console window opens and must stay open while you work; closing it stops ASysT.
3. **Your browser opens the app** on the bundled demo model. Use **Open project folder** inside the
   app to point it at any folder with `.sysml` files.

> Updating: when the app header shows **"v… available"**, download the new zip and replace the
> folder — your models, layouts and licence key live outside it and survive the swap.

**Linux x64 (Ubuntu 22.04/24.04, glibc)**

1. Download `ASysT-Rendering-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz` from
   <https://asyst-rendering.fr/download.html>.
2. Extract it with `tar -xzf ASysT-Rendering-*-linux-x64.tar.gz`.
3. Open a terminal in the extracted `ASysT Rendering` folder and run `./asyst-rendering`.
4. Keep that terminal open while you work; press `Ctrl+C` to stop ASysT.

Linux ARM/ARM64, Alpine/musl and macOS are not included in this package. On Linux, writable demo and
licence state is stored under `~/.config/ASysT` and survives replacing the extracted application folder.

### Option B — VS Code extension

1. **Install VS Code** (free): <https://code.visualstudio.com/> → download → run the installer.
2. **Install the ASysT extension** — from the Marketplace (search *ASysT Rendering*), or from a
   `.vsix` you were given:
   - Open VS Code → **Extensions** panel (`Ctrl+Shift+X`).
   - Click the **`…`** (three-dots) menu at the top of that panel → **Install from VSIX…**
   - Pick the `asyst-vscode-<version>.vsix` file → wait for the *installed* message.

> The shareable ASysT `.zip` you received contains the `.vsix`, a plain-language install readme, and this
> **User_doc** folder. Keep the folder — it's this manual.

In both channels the first launch takes a few seconds while the engine starts. Windows may pop a
**Firewall** prompt — click **Allow access**. ASysT binds its app to your own computer only.

## Open your first model

**Standalone app:** it opens on the demo model by itself; use **Open project folder** to switch to
your own models.

**VS Code extension:**

1. Click the permanent **ASysT icon in the left Activity Bar**. It is visible for every file type and in
   an empty VS Code window.
2. Choose **Explore the ASysT pilot** when you have no model yet, or **Open a SysML or KerML file…** to
   select your own model.
3. The **diagram opens in your browser**. VS Code remains your source editor. When a `.sysml` or `.kerml`
   file is already focused, the ASysT button at the **top-right** of that editor and
   `Ctrl+Shift+P` → **ASysT: Open in Browser** remain direct shortcuts.

If the diagram doesn't appear the first time, close VS Code completely, reopen it, and try again.

## Read the diagram

A typical structure diagram (a **BDD** — Block Definition Diagram) shows:

- **Boxes** — your definitions and parts (`part def`, `part`, `interface`, `requirement`, …). The small
  «guillemet» label at the top of a box is its **kind/stereotype**.
- **Lines** — the relationships between them: composition (filled diamond), specialization (hollow
  triangle), dependencies, satisfy/verify, and more. Multiplicities (`[1]`, `[0..*]`) sit on the ends.

Two interactions to learn first:

- **Drag a box** to move it. The current board keeps its arrangement automatically. To preserve a second,
  named alternative, use **＋ New** in the Explorer's detail panel — the part under the tree.
- **Right-click a box or line**. Its title has three source icons: **📝** reveals the exact declaration in
  VS Code, **🪪** opens a browser-only source card, and **📋** copies the editor-ready relative
  `path:line`. These source controls live in the title, not as rows in the menu. The browser may ask
  permission to open VS Code the first time.

The header label **VS Code extension** / **VS Code dev extension** records how this browser session was
launched; it does not mean the diagram is embedded in a VS Code panel. Reveal source is the return
bridge. It also works from the standalone app when the desktop ASysT VS Code extension is installed;
without that extension, no editor is registered to receive the request.

## Where things are

Around the canvas you'll find:

- An **Explorer** (left edge) — what your model contains, and underneath it a panel with the drawings and
  actions for whatever you have selected. Its shape is described in
  [Navigating models](02_Navigating_models.md#the-explorer).
- A **toolbar** (top) — the **search** box, the **Export** menu, the action **Logs**, the light/dark
  toggle and **Settings**.
- **Drawing tools** (right edge) — Sizing · Placement · Spacing · Routing · Frame adjustment, Display,
  Legend and the **Modeler** drawer.
- A syntax-coloured **source pane** (right side when a source-backed element is selected) — the full file,
  centred on the selection, with debounced whole-model diagnostics. Typing does not touch the model; press
  the pane's Save control or `Ctrl+S` when you explicitly want to publish the whole file.
- A **navigation strip** above the diagram — Back / Forward / Home. Named rendering creation is in the Explorer.
- A **Problems** badge (bottom-left) — what the language server thinks is wrong, if anything.
- A **Variants** button (when your model has variation points and Pro is active) — configure a
  product-line model.

The next guide, [Navigating models](02_Navigating_models.md), covers these in depth.
