Installation

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

Install from the BharatCode Homebrew tap. This fetches the prebuilt binary for your platform and puts bharatcode on your PATH — no Go toolchain needed.

$ brew install arbazkhan971/tap/bharatcode

Upgrade later with brew upgrade bharatcode.

npm / npx

If you already have Node.js, install BharatCode from npm. The package downloads the right prebuilt binary for your platform on install.

$ npm install -g bharatcode-cli    # global install$  $ # or run without installing:$ npx bharatcode-cli

Install script

A one-line installer downloads the latest release binary for your platform. On macOS and Linux it installs to ~/.local/bin; on Windows it installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\bharatcode and updates your user PATH.

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arbazkhan971/bharatcode/main/install.sh | sh

$ irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arbazkhan971/bharatcode/main/install.ps1 | iex

go install

If you have Go 1.24 or newer, install directly with the Go toolchain. This compiles BharatCode and places the binary in your Go bin directory ($(go env GOPATH)/bin, typically ~/go/bin) — make sure that is on your PATH.

$ go install github.com/arbazkhan971/bharatcode@latest

Verify the installation

Once the binary is on your PATH, confirm it runs and reports a version.

$ bharatcode version

If your shell prints “command not found”, the Go bin directory is not on your PATH yet — re-open your terminal after editing your shell profile, or run the binary by its full path (for example ~/go/bin/bharatcode version) to confirm it installed.

Run the doctor

bharatcode doctor runs an environment check — it inspects your setup and surfaces anything that might get in the way, such as a missing or unreadable config file or a provider whose API key environment variable is not set.

$ bharatcode doctor

Run it any time something feels off — right after installing, after editing your config, or when a provider is not being picked up.

Build from source

Prefer to build from a checkout — to track the main branch, hack on the code, or produce a binary in a controlled environment? Clone the repository and build it with the Go toolchain.

$ git clone https://github.com/arbazkhan971/bharatcode.git$ cd bharatcode$ make build        # stamps version + commit into the binary

That produces a bharatcode binary under bin/, which you can run directly or move onto your PATH:

$ ./bin/bharatcode version$  $ # or install into your Go bin directory$ make install

Upgrading

BharatCode can check for and apply updates itself — no package manager required. Two commands and one config option cover every upgrade workflow.

Check for a newer version

Run bharatcode update to compare the installed version against the latest release. Nothing is downloaded or changed — it only reports whether an update is available.

$ bharatcode update

Download and apply an update

Pass --apply to fetch the latest release binary, verify its SHA-256 checksum, and replace the running binary in place.

$ bharatcode update --apply

Auto-update on startup

Set auto_update to true under options in your config to let BharatCode check and apply updates automatically in the background each time it starts. The check is skipped in offline mode and for unstamped builds.

{  "options": {    "auto_update": true  }}

Confirm any upgrade landed with bharatcode version.

Next steps

With the binary installed and verified, you are ready to point it at a model and start working.

• Quick Start — launch the TUI and run your first session.
• Providers & Models — connect an open-weight, hosted, or fully local model.
• Config files — set up your global and per-project configuration.