This demos how you can setup all the basic building blocks you need to write a web app in common lisp.

There's a general lack of documentation on how to get everything set up for web apps, so the motivation behind this is to get people up to speed with everything they need so they can start hacking with common lisp immediately.

You can use this command to install quicklisp automatically and avoid the interactive prompt. This is useful for provisioning.

Download and verify quicklisp from the website:

$ curl -o https://beta.quicklisp.org/release-key.txt
$ gpg --import release-key.txt

$ curl -O https://beta.quicklisp.org/quicklisp.lisp
$ curl -O https://beta.quicklisp.org/quicklisp.lisp.asc
$ gpg --verify quicklisp.lisp.asc quicklisp.lisp

And then run:

$ sbcl --load quicklisp.lisp \
       --eval '(quicklisp-quickstart:install)' \
       --eval '(ql::without-prompting (ql:add-to-init-file))' \
       --eval '(uiop:quit)'

Make sure that the project is discoverable by ASDF. The quick and dirty way:

$ ln -s ~/absolute/path/to/this/project ~/common-lisp/mysite

And then run:

$ sbcl --eval '(ql:quickload :mysite)' --eval '(mysite:main)'

Note: Because this is a detached instance of the program, you'll need to use swank in conjunction with this command (see code). If you don't then you'll lose one of the biggest value propositions of common lisp: excellent debugging facilities and fault tolerance via the conditions and restarts system!