Walkthrough

Welcome to the full UniRTM walkthrough! This guide will take you step-by-step through a real-world scenario, demonstrating how UniRTM replaces multiple legacy tools (like asdf, direnv, and make) with a single, lightning-fast native binary.

1. Setting up a Project

Imagine you're starting a new full-stack project. Your backend requires Go 1.22, and your frontend requires Node 20.

mkdir my-fullstack-app
cd my-fullstack-app

Instead of manually installing these tools or polluting your system paths, let UniRTM manage them:

unirtm use go@1.22 node@20

This command creates a .unirtm.toml file in your directory:

[tools]
go = "1.22"
node = "20"

Because UniRTM dynamically adjusts your environment based on this file, you now have the correct versions active the moment you enter this directory!

2. Managing Environment Variables

Your app needs some environment variables (e.g., a database connection string). You can specify these directly in your .unirtm.toml or load them from a .env file.

Let's use the .unirtm.toml file to define them contextually:

[env]
DATABASE_URL = "postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb"
NODE_ENV = "development"
# Variables can even reference other variables
API_ENDPOINT = "https://api.dev.example.com"
DEBUG_URL = "${API_ENDPOINT}/debug"

Whenever you run a command in this directory, or execute a task, these variables are injected safely and automatically—without direnv or modifying .bashrc.

3. The Task Runner

Instead of relying on Makefiles or package.json scripts that only work for JS, UniRTM features a universal task runner.

Add the following to your .unirtm.toml:

[tasks.build]
description = "Builds the backend and frontend"
run = """
  go build -o server ./cmd/api
  npm run build
"""

[tasks.dev]
description = "Run the development server"
run = "go run ./cmd/api"
env = { PORT = "8080" }

You can now list available tasks:

$ unirtm tasks
build    Builds the backend and frontend
dev      Run the development server

And run them effortlessly:

unirtm run dev

UniRTM guarantees that go and npm will resolve to exactly the versions pinned in your [tools] block, and the environment variables from your [env] block (plus task-specific overrides like PORT) will be strictly scoped to this execution.

4. Temporary Execution Isolation

Sometimes you need to run a tool in an isolated environment without affecting your project configuration. For example, you want to test a script on Python 3.9 without permanently installing it or changing your PATH.

Use unirtm exec:

unirtm exec python@3.9 -- python test_script.py

UniRTM will securely download Python 3.9, evaluate the environment, execute your script, and then cleanly tear down the temporary context. No global state modified.

Conclusion

You've successfully:

• Pinned multiple tool versions using unirtm use.
• Set up isolated, dynamic environment variables.
• Created a cross-language build pipeline using [tasks].
• Executed isolated commands without polluting global state.

UniRTM brings order to your software supply chain. To dig deeper, check out the CLI Overview or the Architecture Deep Dive.