Getting Started

Creating new Sigil projects with sigil init.

Creating a New Project

Use sigil init to create a new project:

sigil init my-project

This creates a new directory my-project/ with a basic project structure.

Project Templates

Sigil provides several templates for different project types:

sigil init my-app                       # Application with entry point (default template)
sigil init my-lib --template library    # Reusable library with exports
sigil init my-cli --template cli        # Command-line tool with argument parsing
sigil init my-game --template game      # Game project with graphics/audio setup

Template: default

Creates a simple application:

my-app/
├── package.sgl      # Package definition
├── README.md        # Project documentation
└── src/
    └── my-app/
        └── main.sgl # Entry point module

Template: library

Creates a library package:

my-lib/
├── package.sgl
├── README.md
├── src/
│   └── my-lib.sgl   # Main library module
└── test/
    └── test-my-lib.sgl

Template: cli

Creates a CLI application with argument parsing:

my-cli/
├── package.sgl
├── README.md
└── src/
    └── my-cli/
        └── main.sgl # CLI with sigil/args

Package File Format

The package.sgl file defines your project:

(package
  name: "my-app"
  version: "0.1.0"
  description: "My application"
  license: "MIT"

  ;; Entry point for executable apps
  ;; The module must export a 'main' procedure
  entry: '(my-app main)

  ;; Dependencies from the Sigil ecosystem
  dependencies: (list
    (from-workspace name: "sigil-stdlib")))

Entry Point

The entry: field specifies which module to run when the application starts:

• Format: '(module-name) - a quoted list of symbols representing the module
• The module must export a main procedure that takes no arguments
• Example: entry: '(my-app main) runs the main procedure from (my-app main) module

Module Naming Convention

Module names follow the directory structure under src/:

Running Your Project

After creating a project:

cd my-project
sigil run                          # Build and run the app
sigil test                         # Run tests (if any)

The sigil run command automatically builds any out-of-date modules before running.

For a release build (standalone executable):

sigil build --config release       # Create release build
./build/release/bin/my-project     # Run the release build

Example: Hello World Application

sigil init hello-world
cd hello-world

Edit src/hello-world/main.sgl:

(define-library (hello-world main)
  (export main)
  (begin
    (define (main)
      (println "Hello, World!"))))

Build and run:

sigil run
# Output: Hello, World!