First steps

Start on a disposable Arch machine with pacvamp installed using the installation guide. Run the commands below as your normal user; pacvamp asks for elevation when a package transaction needs it.

Check the machine

pacvamp version
pacvamp doctor

doctor reports configuration and available protections. Its default feed checks use the authenticated cache. To fetch current publisher feeds, run pacvamp doctor --refresh. Follow the reported failures before attempting a transaction; protection status explains each check.

Find and preview a package

pacvamp search helix
pacvamp info helix
pacvamp install helix --dry-run

Search reads your configured repository databases. Info shows the source and available evidence. The installation preview shows every package pacman would change and the command it would run. If your databases have not been populated, complete the installation guide's full system update first.

Choose how to install

For a one-time installation:

pacvamp install helix

Review the plan and confirm. This records the transaction in the ledger but does not add a manifest declaration.

To record helix as a package you want on this machine:

pacvamp add helix
pacvamp status

add writes your manifest and installs the named package. It can also declare an already installed package. status reports how installed packages compare with your declarations. Read manifests before using drop or absent entries.

Preview an update

pacvamp update --dry-run

The preview includes holds and AUR blockers. It may fetch recipes and signed feeds, but it does not approve commits or install packages. See updates and blocked packages before running pacvamp update.

For AUR software, follow the separate review and build workflow. For an existing machine, import can preview package declarations without changing installed packages or granting trust to their binaries.