Aner programming language
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SET UP YOUR WORKSPACE

Use Aner in your editor

Write plain-text Aner programs in your preferred editor and run them with the native Aner executable.

Run Aner from any editor

  1. Install the native runtime for your operating system and open a new terminal. Runtime downloads
  2. Create a project folder named my-aner-study in your home folder and open it in your editor.
  3. Save the following as a UTF-8 plain-text file named hello.aner in that folder. If your editor adds .txt, remove it from the filename.
hello.aner
let message = "Hello from Aner"
print(message)

In your editor’s terminal or a separate terminal, change to that folder.

macOS and Linux shell
cd "$HOME/my-aner-study"
Windows PowerShell
Set-Location "$HOME\my-aner-study"

In the same terminal, run aner --version and aner check hello.aner. If the check succeeds, run aner run hello.aner.

Expect Hello from Aner from the run. aner check validates syntax and types without executing the file. Keep the terminal in the project root for examples that refer to local data or output files. Aner CLI reference

For a downloaded starter, open the extracted folder that contains README.md and examples/. From that folder, check and run the supplied program with aner check examples/hello.aner and aner run examples/hello.aner. Starter availability

Vi, Vim and Neovim

  1. From the project folder, open the source file with vi hello.aner, vim hello.aner or nvim hello.aner, depending on which editor you have.
  2. Press i to enter insert mode. Type or paste the two lines from hello.aner above.
  3. Press Esc, type :wq and press Enter to save and return to the terminal.
  4. Run aner check hello.aner and, if the check succeeds, aner run hello.aner.

Visual Studio Code

VS Code has the official Aner extension for highlighting, signature help, a Run File command and Aner notebooks. Install the extension under the publisher Aner (anerlang.aner-language), open your project folder and select a saved .aner file. The runtime is installed separately. Aner in VS Code · Extension downloads

Try the VSIX in another editor

Use the terminal workflow in each of these editors. Aner extension 0.1.50 was checked in Cursor 3.29.9 on Apple silicon with Aner 0.0.7. The checks covered highlighting, signatures, diagnostics, Run File, and shared notebook execution and saving. Compatibility in the other editors below is unverified. Download the VSIX from Aner and reopen a saved .aner file after installation. Aner VSIX availability

  • Cursor. Open the Command Palette and choose Extensions: Install from VSIX…, then select the downloaded file. Open the project in Cursor and check aner --version in its terminal. Set aner.executable to the full runtime path if the extension needs it. Cursor staff instructions
  • VSCodium. Open Extensions and use its menu to install the downloaded VSIX. VSCodium extension documentation
  • Positron. Open the Command Palette and choose Extensions: Install from VSIX…, or use that option in the Extensions menu. Positron extension documentation
  • Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf). Open your project and use its terminal. If your version exposes Extensions: Install from VSIX…, you can try the downloaded file there. Devin Desktop setup

Other editors and IDEs

  • JetBrains IDEs. Open the project folder, save an .aner file and use the Terminal tool window. JetBrains terminal guide
  • Sublime Text. Use File → Open Folder, save an .aner file and run it from a separate terminal in the same folder.
  • Emacs. Open the file with C-x C-f and save with C-x C-s. Use a separate terminal or M-x shell in the project folder.
  • Zed. Open the project folder, create an .aner file and use the integrated terminal. Zed terminal guide
  • Helix. From the project folder, run hx hello.aner. Press i to edit, then Esc, type :wq and press Enter to save and return to the terminal.
  • RStudio. Create a text file and save it with the .aner suffix. Use the Terminal tab or a separate terminal for the Aner commands. RStudio terminal guide

Aner and Jupyter notebooks

  • .aner is source code that you can edit as plain text and check or run from a terminal.
  • .anernb is the Aner notebook format for the official VS Code extension. Use a corresponding .aner example if you want to run the analysis from a terminal.
  • .ipynb is the standard Jupyter notebook format. Running Aner cells in JupyterLab requires the optional Aner kernel adapter from a compatible distribution and a matching native runtime. Aner kernel guide

Work with a coding agent

The 0.0.7 starter includes a short local reference and project instructions for coding agents. Open the extracted folder as the agent’s project. If you use a terminal agent, start it in the folder that contains AGENTS.md. Confirm that aner --version reports the version required by the starter’s README in the environment that runs your checks. Check starter availability

Give the agent a small task on the bundled synthetic data. Ask for the runtime version, the exact check and run commands and the observed output. Review the source and compare results against the starter’s expected output. If the agent lacks terminal access, run the commands yourself and share the diagnostic or result.

For an existing project or before the starter is available, try this prompt in the folder where you want to create the plain-text example.

Optional first prompt
Read AGENTS.md and REFERENCE.md if present.
Use https://anerlang.org/docs/language and https://anerlang.org/docs/cli as references.
Run aner --version. Create hello.aner that prints Hello from Aner.
Run aner check hello.aner, then aner run hello.aner if the check succeeds.
Report the exact output or diagnostic.