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Installation & Setup

Scapius provides a containerized toolchain and official IDE extensions for authoring and validating .ea architecture files.

The official Scapius Docker image packages the compiler and validator with zero host dependencies.

Pull the Docker Image​

docker pull ghcr.io/scapius-ea/scapius:latest

Validate Architecture Files​

Run the container by mounting your current directory:

# Validate a single .ea file
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace scapius-ea/scapius validate /workspace/architecture.ea

# Validate an entire directory of .ea files
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace scapiusea/scapius validate /workspace

Shell Alias (Optional)​

For convenience, add an alias to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

alias scapius='docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace scapius-ea/scapius'

Then you can simply run:

scapius validate ./architecture.ea

2. Install the VS Code Extension​

The official Scapius VS Code extension provides real-time authoring intelligence:

  • Syntax highlighting for all .ea keywords, entities, and relationship verbs
  • Real-time diagnostic validation (duplicate IDs, invalid relationships, date ordering)
  • Intelligent auto-completions and snippet expansion
  • Hover documentation detailing ArchiMate alignment and property constraints

Install from Marketplace​

  1. Open Visual Studio Code.
  2. Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on macOS) and run: 
    ext install scapius-ea.scapius-vscode
  3. Or search for Scapius in the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X).

Organize your architecture repository with standard directories containing .ea files:

my-architecture/
├── 01-business/
│   ├── capabilities.ea
│   ├── processes.ea
│   └── value_streams.ea
├── 02-application/
│   ├── systems.ea
│   └── integrations.ea
├── 03-technology/
│   └── environments.ea
└── 04-security/
    ├── policies.ea
    └── threat_models.ea
Supported File Types

Scapius models are defined strictly in .ea files. Multi-file workspaces are discovered by scanning directories of .ea files.

Next Steps​