Installation

codev is a single binary. Prebuilt binaries are published on GitHub Releases for these platforms:

There are four ways to install it. The first two are the shortest and do not require Rust.

macOS and Linux: install.sh

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mairistem/codev/main/install.sh | sh

The script detects your OS and architecture, downloads the matching archive and the SHA256SUMS file from the latest GitHub Release, verifies the archive’s SHA-256, and installs the binary to ~/.local/bin/codev. It refuses to install if the checksum does not match, and it creates ~/.local/bin if needed.

When ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH, the script prints the exact line to add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

To install a specific version, set CODEV_VERSION:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mairistem/codev/main/install.sh | CODEV_VERSION=0.6.1 sh

The script requires curl, tar, and sha256sum or shasum.

Windows: install.ps1

In PowerShell 5.1 or later (including PowerShell 7):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mairistem/codev/main/install.ps1 | iex

The script downloads the .zip archive and SHA256SUMS, verifies the archive with Get-FileHash, and copies codev.exe to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\codev\.

It does not modify your PATH. When the folder is missing from your user PATH, it prints the command to add it:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', 'User') + ";$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\codev", 'User')

This writes the user PATH only. Avoid setx PATH "$env:PATH;...": it truncates values longer than 1024 characters and copies the machine PATH into the user PATH. Open a new PowerShell window afterwards so the change takes effect.

To install a specific version:

$env:CODEV_VERSION = '0.6.1'
iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mairistem/codev/main/install.ps1 | iex

Only x86_64 (AMD64) is available prebuilt on Windows. On ARM64, build from source.

Manual download from GitHub Releases

If you prefer not to pipe a script into your shell, download the files yourself from the latest release. Each release contains one archive per target, named codev-<version>-<target>.tar.gz (.zip on Windows), and a SHA256SUMS file.

macOS and Linux. Download your archive and SHA256SUMS into the same folder, then:

# Verify the checksum — on macOS: shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

tar -xzf codev-*.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cp codev-*/codev ~/.local/bin/
chmod 755 ~/.local/bin/codev

Windows. Download codev-<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip and SHA256SUMS, then in PowerShell:

# Verify the checksum
$zip = Get-Item codev-*-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
$expected = (Select-String -Path SHA256SUMS -Pattern $zip.Name).Line.Split(' ')[0]
$actual = (Get-FileHash $zip -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
if ($actual -ne $expected) { throw "SHA-256 mismatch" }

# Extract and install
Expand-Archive $zip -DestinationPath .
$dst = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\codev"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $dst -Force | Out-Null
Copy-Item codev-*\codev.exe $dst

Then add the folder to your user PATH as shown above.

From source: cargo install

With a Rust toolchain (1.89 or later), you can build codev from a clone of the repository. This is the path for contributors and for platforms without a prebuilt binary.

git clone https://github.com/mairistem/codev.git
cd codev
cargo install --path crates/codev-cli

The binary is installed to ~/.cargo/bin/codev.

Check the installation

codev --version

On macOS and Linux, command -v codev shows which binary your shell runs. On Windows, use Get-Command codev. If the command is not found, the install folder is not on your PATH; see the instructions above for your platform.

Shell completions

codev completions <SHELL> prints a completion script to stdout for bash, zsh, fish, powershell or elvish:

# bash
codev completions bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/codev

# zsh — then run `compinit`
codev completions zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_codev"

# fish
codev completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/codev.fish

# PowerShell, current session
codev completions powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

Requirements

• Claude Code, to use the skills. The CLI itself works without it.
• git, only for inherited sources hosted in a git repository.

Upgrading

Run codev self-update:

codev self-update                  # asks for confirmation on a terminal
codev self-update --check          # only report the running and latest versions
codev self-update --version 0.5.0  # a specific version, downgrades included

It downloads the latest release for your platform, verifies its SHA-256 against the release’s SHA256SUMS — as the installers do — and replaces the binary in place. Then, inside a codev project, it runs codev update with the new binary. It needs curl and tar, which macOS, most Linux distributions and Windows 10 or later include.

codev self-update only replaces a binary installed by install.sh, install.ps1 or by hand. When codev was installed with cargo install, built from a clone, or installed by a package manager, it prints the command that upgrades it and changes nothing. It never downgrades unless you pass --version. On Windows, the previous binary is kept as codev.old.exe next to the new one until the next codev command removes it.

codev status tells you when a newer release exists, at most once a day; see Does codev check for updates? to turn that off.

You can still run the installer again, or download a newer release. Then, in each project, regenerate the skills so they match the new version:

codev update

codev update also refreshes codev’s managed sections in CLAUDE.md and the pull request template, and the codev version pinned in .github/workflows/codev.yml, where codev init wrote them. See codev update for how hand-edited skills are handled, and codev doctor to check the result.