---
title: "Overview"
description: "Atomic documentation overview"
---

# Atomic Documentation

Atomic is a minimal terminal coding harness. It is designed to stay small at the core while being extended through TypeScript extensions, skills, prompt templates, themes, and Atomic packages.

## Quick start

Install Atomic globally with npm, pnpm, or Bun:

With npm:

```bash
npm install -g @bastani/atomic
```

With pnpm:

```bash
pnpm add -g @bastani/atomic
```

With Bun:

```bash
bun add -g @bastani/atomic
```

Atomic does not require package install scripts. If you want to disable dependency lifecycle scripts during the Atomic install, you can add `--ignore-scripts` to the install command.

Or download an `atomic-*` archive from the Atomic GitHub Release for your platform.

Then run it in a project directory:

```bash
atomic
```

Authenticate with `/login` for subscription providers, or set an API key such as `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` before starting Atomic.

For the full first-run flow, see [Quickstart](/quickstart).

## Start here

- [Quickstart](/quickstart) - install, authenticate, and run a first session.
- [Using Atomic](/usage) - interactive mode, slash commands, context files, and CLI reference.
- [Providers](/providers) - subscription and API-key setup for built-in providers.
- [Security](/security) - project trust, sandbox boundaries, and vulnerability reporting.
- [Containerization](/containerization) - sandbox Atomic with OpenShell, Gondolin, or Docker.
- [Settings](/settings) - global and project settings.
- [Keybindings](/keybindings) - default shortcuts and custom keybindings.
- [Sessions](/sessions) - session management, branching, and tree navigation.
- [Compaction](/compaction) - Verbatim Compaction, context management, and branch summarization.

## Customization

- [Extensions](/extensions) - TypeScript modules for tools, commands, events, and custom UI.
- [Skills](/skills) - Agent Skills for reusable on-demand capabilities.
- [Subagents](/subagents) - focused child agents for research, analysis, debugging, cleanup, and review compositions.
- [Workflows](/workflows) - reusable multi-stage automation with tracked stages and resumable runs.
- [Prompt templates](/prompt-templates) - reusable prompts that expand from slash commands.
- [Themes](/themes) - built-in and custom terminal themes.
- [Atomic packages](/packages) - bundle and share extensions, skills, prompts, and themes.
- [Custom models](/models) - add model entries for supported provider APIs.
- [Custom providers](/custom-provider) - implement custom APIs and OAuth flows.

## Programmatic usage

- [SDK](/sdk) - embed Atomic in Node.js applications.
- [RPC mode](/rpc) - integrate over stdin/stdout JSONL.
- [JSON event stream mode](/json) - print mode with structured events.
- [TUI components](/tui) - build custom terminal UI for extensions.

## Reference

- [Session format](/session-format) - JSONL session file format, entry types, and SessionManager API.

## Platform setup

- [Windows](/windows)
- [Termux on Android](/termux)
- [tmux](/tmux)
- [Terminal setup](/terminal-setup)
- [Shell aliases](/shell-aliases)

## Development

- [Development](/development) - local setup, project structure, and debugging.
