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Installation

This guide covers how to install Flow on your system.

Pre-built Binaries

The easiest way to install Flow is to download a pre-built binary from the GitHub Releases page.

Binary Variants

Flow comes in several variants depending on your needs:

VariantDescriptionBest For
flowCLI onlyTerminal users, scripts, automation
flow-tuiCLI + Terminal UITerminal power users
flow-guiCLI + Desktop GUIUsers preferring graphical interfaces
flow-uiCLI + TUI + GUIUsers who want both interfaces
flow-serverCLI + ServerSelf-hosting, multi-device sync
flow-fatEverythingUsers who want all features

Download

  1. Go to the Releases page

  2. Download the appropriate archive for your platform:

    • Linux: flow-<variant>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz or flow-<variant>-linux-aarch64.tar.gz
    • macOS: flow-<variant>-macos-x86_64.tar.gz (Intel) or flow-<variant>-macos-aarch64.tar.gz (Apple Silicon)
    • Windows: flow-<variant>-windows-x86_64.zip

  3. Extract and install:

Linux / macOS

# Extract (example for CLI variant on Linux x86_64)
tar -xzf flow-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

# Move to a directory in your PATH
sudo mv flow /usr/local/bin/

# Verify installation
flow --version

Windows

  1. Extract the .zip file
  2. Move flow.exe to a directory in your PATH (e.g., C:\Users\<username>\bin)
  3. Open a new terminal and verify:
flow --version

Building from Source

Prerequisites

  • Rust (stable toolchain, version 1.91.1 or later)
  • Git

Clone and Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/mrbandler/flow.git
cd flow

# Build the CLI (default)
cargo build --release --package flow

# Or build with specific features
cargo build --release --package flow --features tui      # CLI + TUI
cargo build --release --package flow --features gui      # CLI + GUI
cargo build --release --package flow --features all      # Everything

The binary will be at target/release/flow (or target/release/flow.exe on Windows).

Install via Cargo

# Install the CLI
cargo install --git https://github.com/mrbandler/flow.git flow

# Install with TUI
cargo install --git https://github.com/mrbandler/flow.git flow --features tui

Using Nix

If you use Nix, you can enter a development shell with all dependencies:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/mrbandler/flow.git
cd flow

# Enter the development shell
nix develop

Verifying Your Installation

After installation, verify Flow is working:

# Check version (shows compiled features)
flow --version
# Output: flow 0.1.0 (tui, gui)  -- features vary by variant

# Show help
flow --help

Next Steps

Now that Flow is installed, head to the Quick Start guide to begin using it!