Get started

0. Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+ with Cargo
• clang (scripts often default to clang-19) — needed for native LLVM execution
• Linux is the reference platform

1. Build the compiler

git clone https://github.com/manishthatte/maniTC
cd maniTC
cargo build --release
export PATH="$PATH:$(pwd)/target/release"

You now have manitc. Check with manitc --help.

2. First program — T3ISA (emulated)

Create hello.mt:

use std::io;

fn main() {
    io::println("Hello from the ternary world!");
}

manitc compile --target t3 hello.mt
manitc run-t3 a.t3b

Add --debug to run-t3 for the interactive debugger.

3. The same program, natively

manitc compile --target llvm hello.mt -o hello.ll
clang-19 -O2 -c runtime/manit_runtime.c -o manit_runtime.o
clang-19 hello.ll manit_runtime.o -o hello -lm
./hello

Or compare both backends: manitc bench examples/fibonacci.mt.

4. Meet the trits

let a: trit = +;
tif a {
    + => io::println("positive"),
    0 => io::println("zero"),
    - => io::println("negative"),
}

let sensor: bool3 = unknown;
let n = 0t+0-;   // balanced ternary literal = 8

• Negation is free — balanced ternary is symmetric; there is no sign bit.
• unknown is a value — bool3 follows Kleene three-valued logic.
• tif is one instruction on T3ISA.

5. Next

• Language hub · normative ref on GitHub
• T3ISA hub
• Examples on GitHub
• Boot thatteOS after the compiler is on your PATH

Full handbook: GETTING_STARTED.md on GitHub.