Quickstart

Get from zero to a running workflow with an evidence bundle in about 10 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.75+ (rustup update stable)
• Git

1. Build

git clone https://github.com/escapeboy/boruna
cd boruna
cargo build --workspace

This builds all 11 workspace members (10 production crates + benches/). Expect 1-2 minutes on first build.

No Rust? Install the prebuilt binaries instead (see Install), still clone the repository for the examples, and write boruna wherever this guide says cargo run --bin boruna --.

2. Run hello world

cargo run --bin boruna -- run examples/hello.ax

Expected output:

Hello, Boruna!

This compiles hello.ax to bytecode and runs it on the VM. No capabilities are needed.

3. Run a workflow

Boruna workflows are DAGs — directed acyclic graphs of steps. Each step is a .ax file that compiles independently and runs in isolation.

Run the LLM code review workflow (in demo mode — no real LLM calls):

cargo run --bin boruna -- workflow run examples/workflows/llm_code_review \
  --policy allow-all

Expected output:

Running workflow: llm_code_review

  [1/3] fetch_diff    → ok
  [2/3] analyze       → ok
  [3/3] report        → ok

Workflow completed in 0.03s

Three steps ran in topological order: fetch a diff, analyze it, produce a report. In demo mode the steps return representative data without calling any external services.

4. Record an evidence bundle

Add --record to capture a tamper-evident log of the run:

cargo run --bin boruna -- workflow run examples/workflows/llm_code_review \
  --policy allow-all --record

Expected output:

Running workflow: llm_code_review

  [1/3] fetch_diff    → ok
  [2/3] analyze       → ok
  [3/3] report        → ok

Workflow completed in 0.03s
Bundle written to: .boruna/runs/20260319-120000-abc12/

5. Inspect the evidence bundle

cargo run --bin boruna -- evidence inspect .boruna/runs/20260319-120000-abc12/

Expected output:

Run ID:     20260319-120000-abc12
Workflow:   llm_code_review
Started:    2026-03-19T12:00:00Z
Completed:  2026-03-19T12:00:00Z
Policy:     allow-all
Steps:      3 completed, 0 failed

Step Results:
  fetch_diff   → ok  (0.0s)
  analyze      → ok  (0.0s)
  report       → ok  (0.0s)

Chain:      valid (3 entries, no gaps)

6. Verify the evidence bundle

cargo run --bin boruna -- evidence verify .boruna/runs/20260319-120000-abc12/

Expected output:

Chain integrity: VALID
All step hashes: MATCH
Environment fingerprint: PRESENT
Verification: PASSED

The hash chain is unbroken. No step output was modified. This is what makes Boruna useful for audit: you can present this bundle, and anyone with the boruna binary can verify it independently.

What you just saw

• Deterministic execution: same workflow definition → same outputs, every time
• Capability policy: --policy allow-all controls what side effects are permitted
• Evidence bundle: a tamper-evident directory written alongside every recorded run
• Independent verification: evidence verify needs no network access, no central server

Try the other workflows

# Document processing with fan-out parallelism
cargo run --bin boruna -- workflow run examples/workflows/document_processing \
  --policy allow-all --record

# Customer support triage with an approval gate
cargo run --bin boruna -- workflow run examples/workflows/customer_support_triage \
  --policy allow-all --record

Run the tests

cargo test --workspace --features boruna-cli/serve

1175+ tests across all workspace members. All should pass.

Next steps

• Write a workflow: Your First Workflow
• Understand the language: .ax Language Reference
• Understand determinism: Determinism
• Understand capabilities: Capabilities
• See all CLI commands: CLI Reference
• Check maturity status: Stability

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