# Getting Started

## Requirements

- Python 3.9 or later
- A language pack (`pip install foreignthon-xx`)

---

## Installation

```bash
pip install foreignthon
```

For global CLI access across projects, use `pipx`:

```bash
pipx install foreignthon
```

---

## Create a project

```bash
fpy new myproject --lang <code>
cd myproject
```

This scaffolds:

```
myproject/
├── .foreignthon.toml   # project config
├── .gitignore
├── README.md
└── src/
    └── main.<lang>.py  # hello world in your language
```

The `.foreignthon.toml` stores your language and any local pack overrides:

```toml
[foreignthon]
lang = "es"
# custom_pack = "custom.json"
```

---

## File naming

ForeignThon detects the language from the file extension:

```
script.es.py   →  Spanish
script.ta.py   →  Tamil
script.fr.py   →  French
```

You can also declare the language at the top of the file:

```python
# foreignthon: es
```

Or override it at runtime:

```bash
fpy run script.py --lang es
```

---

## Run

```bash
fpy run src/main.es.py
```

---

## Compile

```bash
fpy compile src/main.es.py
# → src/main.compiled.py
```

```bash
fpy compile src/main.es.py -o dist/
# → dist/main.compiled.py
```

The compiled file is standard Python. Commit it alongside your source — anyone can run it without ForeignThon installed.

---

## Validate

```bash
fpy check src/main.es.py
# ✓ main.es.py looks good.
```

Checks syntax without running — useful in CI.

---

## Errors

When something goes wrong, ForeignThon shows the error in your language first, then English:

```
[ES] ErrorDeDivisionCero: Error división por cero
[EN] ZeroDivisionError: division by zero
     File "src/main.es.py", line 8
```

Tracebacks point to your original source file, not any intermediate.

---

## Variable names

Variable names are completely optional — English names work alongside foreign keywords with no issues. Only keywords and builtins are ever swapped.

---

## Next steps

- [CLI Reference](cli-reference.md) — all commands and flags
- [Language Packs](language-packs/index.md) — available languages
- [Custom Packs](custom-packs.md) — extend or override a pack locally