Download the ISO file. This guide will use the artix-base-openrc image.
Flash a USB drive with etcher or dd (sudo dd if=/location/of/artix_install.iso of=/dev/usbdrive bs=4M && sync).
After booting from the drive (Make sure to boot UEFI!), follow the Artix installation guide.
NOTE: If installing on a laptop, be sure to add networkmanager and networkmanager-openrc to your basestrap command in order to have WiFi capabilities after leaving the live environment.
After following the guide and creating a user account, install drivers for your video card. For Intel integrated graphics, the packages are mesa and vulkan-intel.
Now, to install x11 and i3; The following command will install x11, i3, and some other useful tools for interfacing with x11 and improving the experience: sudo pacman -S xorg xorg-xhost xdotool i3-wm i3status i3lock picom.
Additionally, install a terminal emulator. gnome-terminal is usually a good default choice. Additionally, install dmenu for launching applications.
To launch i3 from tty after logging in, add exec i3 to ~/.xinitrc. After logging in, follow the dialog to generate an i3 config file. Add the line exec --no-startup-id picom to ~/.config/i3/config
Install pipewire, pipewire-pulse and wireplumber. Next, add the following to /usr/share/pipewire/pipewire.conf under context.exec:
{ path = "/usr/bin/wireplumber" args = "" }
{ path = "/usr/bin/pipewire-pulse" args = "" }
Finally, add the line exec --no-startup-id pipewire to ~/.config/i3/config in the appropriate section.
Install an AUR helper. First, make the directory ~/Repositories. cd into this directory and clone an AUR helper's repository. Paru is preferred, but yay is another option. If you are used to a different helper than Paru or yay, add alias <old-helper-name>="<new-helper-name>" to ~/.bashrc.
cd into the newly cloned directory and run makepkg -si. The base-devel package may need to be installed, as well as git.
Install any theme you want; the AUR provides a convenient way to do this. Install lxappearance to activate the themes you installed. Additionally, install a font for i3. I generally like JetBrains Mono. Install the packages ttf-jetbrains-mono and pango if not installed. Add font pango:JetBrainsMono 12 to your i3 config and reboot (Change this line if using another font).
For development with docker, install docker, docker-buildx, docker-compose, and docker-openrc. To start docker on boot, run: sudo rc-update add docker default, and to run docker without root privileges, add your user to the docker group: sudo usermod -aG docker <username>.
Install firefox through pacman and configure it (Themes, extensions, etc.) Next, install any other packages you may need for daily use. For me, these include jellyfinmediaplayer (AUR), prismlauncher (AUR), and freetube (AUR). Also, import an existing ssh key if you have one.