installation.md

Installation

Supported platforms

• macOS: amd64, arm64
• Linux: amd64, arm64
• Windows: amd64, arm64

Release asset names are stable:

• small-vX.Y.Z-darwin-amd64.tar.gz
• small-vX.Y.Z-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
• small-vX.Y.Z-linux-amd64.tar.gz
• small-vX.Y.Z-linux-arm64.tar.gz
• checksums.txt

Option 1: curl installer (recommended)

Install latest:

curl -fsSL https://smallprotocol.dev/install.sh | bash

Optionally install a specific version:

curl -fsSL https://smallprotocol.dev/install.sh | bash -s -- --version vX.Y.Z

Install behavior:

• Downloads release metadata from GitHub API
• Downloads the platform archive and checksums.txt
• No compilation required. Pre-built binaries are downloaded and checksum verified.
• Verifies SHA256 before extraction and install
• Installs to ~/.local/bin/small by default (no sudo)

Optional flags:

• --system: install to /usr/local/bin/small (uses sudo if needed)
• --dir PATH: custom install directory
• --release-json PATH: use local release metadata (testing only)
• --dry-run: print resolved release/install details only

Option 2: npm global install

npm i -g @small-protocol/small
small version

npm install behavior:

• Maps npm version X.Y.Z to release tag vX.Y.Z
• Fetches tagged release metadata from GitHub API
• Downloads platform archive and checksums.txt
• No compilation required. Pre-built binaries are downloaded and checksum verified.
• Verifies SHA256 before extracting small into the package vendor/ directory
• Exposes small on your shell PATH via your npm global bin directory

If the binary is missing after install:

npm rebuild @small-protocol/small

PATH notes

• curl default path: ~/.local/bin/small
• curl system path (--system): /usr/local/bin/small
• npm global path: $(npm bin -g) (or platform-equivalent npm global bin directory)

Uninstall

curl default install:

rm -f ~/.local/bin/small

curl system install:

sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/small

npm global install:

npm uninstall -g @small-protocol/small