Usage Guide

This guide explains how to use Hix for code generation in your projects.

Installation

Hix can be installed through various package managers:

Using Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install hix

Using Chocolatey (Windows)

choco install hix

Using Nix

nix-env -i hix

Using Docker

docker pull hix/hix

Manual Installation

Download the latest release from the releases page and add it to your PATH.

Project Setup

Initialize a New Project

mkdir my-project
cd my-project
hix init

This creates the following structure:

.hix/
├── config.yaml           # Configuration file
├── .gitignore           # Git ignore rules for generated files
├── models/              # Directory for model files
├── output/              # Directory for generated code
│   ├── Domain/         # Domain layer output
│   ├── Application/    # Application layer output
│   ├── Infrastructure/ # Infrastructure layer output
│   └── Presentation/   # Presentation layer output
└── templates/          # Directory for template files

Basic Usage

1. Create a Model

Create a JSON file describing your model:

{
  "className": "User",
  "properties": [
    { "name": "Id", "type": "int" },
    { "name": "Name", "type": "string" },
    { "name": "Email", "type": "string" }
  ]
}

2. Generate Code

Run Hix with your model file:

hix User.json

This will: 1. Load the model from User.json 2. Read the configuration from .hix/config.yaml 3. Generate code for each layer according to the templates 4. Output the generated files in their respective layer directories

Advanced Usage

Interactive Mode

If you run Hix without arguments, it will prompt you for the model name:

hix
# Then enter the model name when prompted

Help and Documentation

• Show basic help: hix help or hix --help
• Show detailed manual: hix man
• Show version: hix version or hix --version

Customizing Configuration

Edit .hix/config.yaml to customize: - Architecture type (clean, onion, hexagonal) - Output paths - Layer configurations - Template mappings

Examples

Generate a Domain Entity

1. Create a model file User.json:

{
  "className": "User",
  "properties": [
    { "name": "Id", "type": "int" },
    { "name": "Name", "type": "string" }
  ]
}

1. Run Hix:

hix User.json

1. Check the generated files in .hix/output/Domain/

Using Templates

1. Create a template in .hix/templates/domain/Entity.hix:

public class [[model.className]] {
[[prop]]
  private [[prop.type]] [[prop.name]];
[[/prop]]
}

1. Add the template to your config:

layers:
  - name: Domain
    path: ./src/Domain
    templates:
      - name: Entity
        filename: [[model.name]].java
        template: templates/domain/Entity.hix

1. Generate code:

hix User.json

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Model Not Found
2. Ensure the model file exists and is in the correct location

3. Check file permissions

4. Configuration Errors

5. Verify config.yaml syntax

6. Check template paths are correct

7. Template Errors

8. Check template syntax
9. Verify all required model fields are present

Getting Help

• Use hix help for basic command information
• Use hix man for detailed documentation
• Check the documentation for more information
• Report issues on our GitHub repository

---

Running Hix

Before running the command, make sure you have created two files:

• template.hix: your Hix template
• model.json: your input data model

Once installed, you can use Hix via the command line to render templates with your model data:

hix template.hix model.json

This will parse template.hix, apply values from model.json, and output the result to your terminal.

---

Example Input Files

model.json

{
  "className": "User",
  "properties": [
    { "name": "Name", "type": "string" },
    { "name": "IsAdmin", "type": "bool" }
  ]
}

template.hix

public class [[model.className]] {
[[prop]]
  [[if prop.type=bool]]
    public bool [[prop.name]];
  [[else]]
    public [[prop.type]] [[snake_case prop.name]];
  [[/if]]
[[/prop]]
}

Output

public class User {
  public string name;
  public bool IsAdmin;
}

---

Command-Line Arguments

When you run hix template.hix model.json, the tool uses:

• The template file's extension (e.g., .hix, .cs.hix, .html.hix) to determine the output file extension.
• The model's className as the base name for the output file.

For example:

hix template.cs.hix Person.json

Will produce:

Person.cs

The CLI accepts two positional arguments:

The CLI accepts two positional arguments:

1. template file (e.g. template.hix)
2. model file (e.g. model.json)

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Windows Installer Support

If you installed Hix using the Windows setup wizard, the hix command will be available in any terminal.

You may need to restart your terminal session after installation to ensure the PATH update is active.