Create an ARC

So, where do I start? What is an ARC? And how do I create one?

An ARC represents an entire investigation. At the top level, it includes directories named “studies,” “assays,” “workflows,” and “runs,” along with an investigation metadata table that holds all administrative metadata.

It follows a very specific structure to be easily readable by machines 🤖. While it can be created by hand it is faster to use some tooling!

Choose your training track

The easiest way to create a new ARC is via one of the ARC tools provided by DataPLANT.

As of September 2026, two parallel ARC tools are being maintained as the main user tool.

ARCitect

• Most stable
• Most feature complete
• Will be replaced in the future

Comfy space

Choose this, if you want things to work mostly as described.

ARCitect-GX

• Latest developments
• Not fully user-ready
• Not yet all features implemented

Beta-tester

Choose this, if you’re ok with possible bugs and trouble-shooting.

Choose and follow one of these tracks by selecting the respective tab in the following guides.

ARCitect installation

ARCitect

If ARCitect is not yet installed on your computer,

please follow these instructions to install ARCitect

Note

ARCitect depends on Git and Git LFS. The ARCitect installer for Windows includes both tools automatically. On macOS and Linux, Git and Git LFS have to be installed separately.

Windows

1. Head to the ARCitect’s GitHub release page.

2. Under “Assets” Download the latest release for Windows (ARCitect-x.x.x-win.zip).

3. In Windows Explorer, open the folder where you downloaded the ARCitect.

4. Unzip (Right click ➞ Extract All..) the folder (ARCitect-x.x.x-win.zip). You can move this folder to another location (e.g. Program files).

5. Start the ARCitect, by clicking the ARCitect application.

6. Once started, you see a Windows Defender warning. To proceed, click More info and then Run anyway.

   

7. Windows Defender Firewall further asks you to allow network communication. This enables communication with the DataHUB.

   

   Tip

   You might have to select the app from your taskbar.

macOS

Check git installation

To check, that Git and Git LFS are installed on your computer, open a new command prompt or terminal and execute the following two commands. These should display the installed version. If not, follow the installation instructions.

1. Open a command prompt or terminal

2. Check the installed Git version via

   git --version

   Tip

   Recommended Git version ≥ 2.32.0 and < 2.52

3. Check the installed Git LFS version via

   git-lfs --version

   Tip

   Recommended Git LFS version ≥ 3.7.0

Installing Git and Git LFS

Windows

1. Download the Git installer for Windows from https://git-scm.com.
2. Open the installer and follow the installation instructions
3. During the installation, make sure to include Git LFS (Large File Support)

macOS

1. Open a Terminal

2. (Optional, if homebrew is not yet installed:) Install the package manager homebrew via

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

3. Install Git via homebrew with

   brew install git

4. Install Git LFS via homebrew with

   brew install git-lfs

5. Initialize Git LFS via

   git lfs install

Linux

1. Open a Terminal

2. Update the package manager apt via

   sudo apt update

3. Install Git via apt with

   sudo apt-get install git

4. Install Git LFS via apt with

   sudo apt-get install git-lfs

5. Initialize Git LFS via

   git lfs install

Tip

For more details or alternatives, check out the documentation of Git and Git LFS.

ARCitect Installation

1. Head to the ARCitect’s GitHub release page.

2. Download the macOS installer ARCitect-x.x.x.dmg.

3. Double-click the installer ARCitect-x.x.x.dmg and move the app to your Applications folder.

Unidentified developer

When starting ARCitect for the first time, you are warned about an unidentified developer.

Please navigate to the Privacy & Security panel in your System Settings to Open Anyway.

Accept incoming network connections

Every time you start the ARCitect, you are asked to accept incoming network connections.

This enables communication with the DataHUB.

Linux

Check git installation

To check, that Git and Git LFS are installed on your computer, open a new command prompt or terminal and execute the following two commands. These should display the installed version. If not, follow the installation instructions.

1. Open a command prompt or terminal

2. Check the installed Git version via

   git --version

   Tip

   Recommended Git version ≥ 2.32.0 and < 2.52

3. Check the installed Git LFS version via

   git-lfs --version

   Tip

   Recommended Git LFS version ≥ 3.7.0

Installing Git and Git LFS

Windows

1. Download the Git installer for Windows from https://git-scm.com.
2. Open the installer and follow the installation instructions
3. During the installation, make sure to include Git LFS (Large File Support)

macOS

1. Open a Terminal

2. (Optional, if homebrew is not yet installed:) Install the package manager homebrew via

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

3. Install Git via homebrew with

   brew install git

4. Install Git LFS via homebrew with

   brew install git-lfs

5. Initialize Git LFS via

   git lfs install

Linux

1. Open a Terminal

2. Update the package manager apt via

   sudo apt update

3. Install Git via apt with

   sudo apt-get install git

4. Install Git LFS via apt with

   sudo apt-get install git-lfs

5. Initialize Git LFS via

   git lfs install

Tip

For more details or alternatives, check out the documentation of Git and Git LFS.

ARCitect Installation

Installation now based on DEB package

To avoid issues on certain Linux distributions, ARCitect installation is based on DEB package (instead of AppImage) since version 0.0.59.

1. Install additional dependencies via

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-0 libnotify4 xdg-utils libsecret-1-0

   Note

   On some linux distributions you have to run sudo apt --fix-broken install afterwards.

2. Head to the ARCitect’s GitHub release page.

3. Download the Linux DEB package ARCitect-x.x.x_amd64.deb.

4. Install ARCitect

   sudo dpkg -i ./ARCitect-x.x.x_amd64.deb

5. Start the ARCitect via

   arcitect

   Admin privileges

   apt-get install and dpkg -i often require admin privileges, since they write into system directories. You can circumvent this problem by local installations in folders where you have permission, e.g.

   dpkg-deb -x ./ARCitect-x.x.x_amd64.deb $HOME/arc

   would install the ARCitect in a folder in your home directory. You can then add it to your path via

   export PATH="$HOME/arc/ARCitect:$PATH"

   To install git, git-lfs, libgtk-3-0, libnotify4, xdg-utils and libsecret-1-0, if they are not already installed, you can use apt download, which gives you the .deb files for their installations.
   From there you can proceed the same as written above for the ARCitect. apt download does not resolve package dependencies, so you may have to resolve them manually.

ARCitect-GX

If ARCitect-GX is not yet installed on your computer,

please follow these instructions to install ARCitect

ARCitect-GX ~ SwateApp

As of August 2026, the ARCitect-GX app is still called “SwateApp”. The name will be updated in future releases. Hence, you might see the name “Swate” in the app and in the installation instructions. Please do not be confused by this.

Check git installation

ARCitect-GX depends on Git and Git LFS. These need to be installed separately.

To check, that Git and Git LFS are installed on your computer, open a new command prompt or terminal and execute the following two commands. These should display the installed version. If not, follow the installation instructions.

1. Open a command prompt or terminal

2. Check the installed Git version via

   git --version

   Tip

   Recommended Git version ≥ 2.32.0 and < 2.52

3. Check the installed Git LFS version via

   git-lfs --version

   Tip

   Recommended Git LFS version ≥ 3.7.0

Installing Git and Git LFS

Windows

1. Download the Git installer for Windows from https://git-scm.com.
2. Open the installer and follow the installation instructions
3. During the installation, make sure to include Git LFS (Large File Support)

macOS

1. Open a Terminal

2. (Optional, if homebrew is not yet installed:) Install the package manager homebrew via

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

3. Install Git via homebrew with

   brew install git

4. Install Git LFS via homebrew with

   brew install git-lfs

5. Initialize Git LFS via

   git lfs install

Linux

1. Open a Terminal

2. Update the package manager apt via

   sudo apt update

3. Install Git via apt with

   sudo apt-get install git

4. Install Git LFS via apt with

   sudo apt-get install git-lfs

5. Initialize Git LFS via

   git lfs install

Tip

For more details or alternatives, check out the documentation of Git and Git LFS.

Installing ARCitect-GX

Windows

1. Head to the ARCitect-GX’s GitHub release page.

2. Under “Assets” Download the latest release for Windows (Swate-x.x.x Setup.exe).

3. In Windows Explorer, open the folder where you downloaded the ARCitect-GX.

4. Unzip (Right click ➞ Extract All..) the folder (Swate-x.x.x Setup.exe). You can move this folder to another location (e.g. Program files).

5. Start the ARCitect-GX, by clicking the Swate application.

6. Once started, you see a Windows Defender warning. To proceed, click More info and then Run anyway.

   

7. Windows Defender Firewall further asks you to allow network communication. This enables communication with the DataHUB.

   

   Tip

   You might have to select the app from your taskbar.

macOS

1. Head to the ARCitect-GX’s GitHub release page.

2. Download the macOS installer Swate-x.x.x.dmg for your platform (Intel: x64 or Apple Silicon: arm64).

3. Double-click the installer Swate-x.x.x.dmg and move the app to your Applications folder.

Unidentified developer

When starting ARCitect-GX for the first time, you are warned about an unidentified developer.

Please navigate to the Privacy & Security panel in your System Settings to Open Anyway.

Accept incoming network connections

Every time you start the ARCitect-GX, you are asked to accept incoming network connections.

This enables communication with the DataHUB.

Linux

1. Install additional dependencies via

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-0 libnotify4 xdg-utils libsecret-1-0

   Note

   On some linux distributions you have to run sudo apt --fix-broken install afterwards.

2. Head to the ARCitect-GX’s GitHub release page.

3. Download the Linux DEB package Swate-x.x.x_amd64.deb.

4. Install ARCitect-GX

   sudo dpkg -i ./Swate-x.x.x_amd64.deb

5. Start the ARCitect-GX via

   swate

   Admin privileges

   apt-get install and dpkg -i often require admin privileges, since they write into system directories. You can circumvent this problem by local installations in folders where you have permission, e.g.

   dpkg-deb -x ./Swate-x.x.x_amd64.deb $HOME/arc

   would install the ARCitect-GX in a folder in your home directory. You can then add it to your path via

   export PATH="$HOME/arc/ARCitect-GX:$PATH"

   To install git, git-lfs, libgtk-3-0, libnotify4, xdg-utils and libsecret-1-0, if they are not already installed, you can use apt download, which gives you the .deb files for their installations.
   From there you can proceed the same as written above for the ARCitect-GX. apt download does not resolve package dependencies, so you may have to resolve them manually.

Create a new ARC

ARCitect

1. Start the ARCitect app.

2. In the sidebar on the left, click on note_add New ARC.

3. Select a location and name for your ARC.

   

   To keep it simple, I call my ARC “AthalianaColdStressSugar”

   Tip

   • Use a short acronym
   • Avoid spaces and special characters in your ARC’s name
   • Avoid administrative metadata (name, data, etc.)
   • Use a combination of keywords maybe grant number

4. ARCitect creates the base ARC folder on your computer and opens it right away.

   • DirectoryAthalianaColdStressSugar

     • studies
     • assays
     • workflows
     • runs
     • isa.investigation.xlsx

   Note

   The isa.investigation.xlsx is not displayed inside ARCitect, but can be accessed by clicking on “AthalianaColdStressSugar” (in Viola’s example).

ARCitect-GX

1. Start the ARCitect-GX app.

2. In the dropdown on top click on “Create new ARC”.

   

3. Select an identifier for your ARC.

   

   To keep it simple, I call my ARC “AthalianaColdStressSugar”

   Tip

   • Use a short acronym
   • Avoid spaces and special characters in your ARC’s name
   • Avoid administrative metadata (name, data, etc.)
   • Use a combination of keywords, maybe a grant number

4. Click Create new ARC

5. Select a location and click “open”.

6. ARCitect-GX creates the base ARC folder on your computer and opens it right away.

   • DirectoryAthalianaColdStressSugar

     • assays
     • notes
     • runs
     • studies
     • workflows
     • isa.investigation.xlsx

Your ARC’s name

By default, your ARC’s name will be used:

1. For the ARC folder on your computer.
2. As the investigation identifier.