Installation

Get the Releases CLI up and running.

Homebrew

On macOS and Linux with Homebrew:

brew install buildinternet/tap/releases

npm

Install globally via npm — prebuilt binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows (x64) are included:

npm install -g @buildinternet/releases

Or run without installing:

npx @buildinternet/releases search "react"

Shell script (macOS, Linux)

Download and install the latest binary directly:

curl -fsSL https://releases.sh/install | bash

The script detects your platform, downloads the correct binary from npm, and installs it to /usr/local/bin. Set RELEASES_INSTALL_DIR to change the install location. Windows users should use npm or the GitHub Releases archives below.

GitHub Releases (precompiled binaries)

Each version publishes precompiled binaries for every supported platform on the buildinternet/releases-cli releases page. Useful for air-gapped installs, pinning to a specific version, or platforms where npm and Homebrew aren't an option.

Available archives per release:

releases-darwin-arm64.gz — macOS Apple Silicon
releases-darwin-x64.gz — macOS Intel
releases-linux-arm64.gz — Linux ARM64
releases-linux-x64.gz — Linux x86_64
releases-windows-x64.zip — Windows x86_64

Each archive ships with a matching .sha256 file, plus a top-level checksums.txt covering the whole release.

macOS / Linux:

# Pick the archive that matches your platform
curl -fsSL -o releases.gz https://github.com/buildinternet/releases-cli/releases/latest/download/releases-darwin-arm64.gz
gunzip releases.gz
chmod +x releases
mv releases /usr/local/bin/

Windows (PowerShell):

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/buildinternet/releases-cli/releases/latest/download/releases-windows-x64.zip" -OutFile "releases.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "releases.zip" -DestinationPath "."
# Move releases-windows-x64.exe somewhere on your PATH and rename to releases.exe

From source (development)

The CLI source lives at github.com/buildinternet/releases-cli. Requires Bun v1.1+ (Bun supports macOS, Linux, and Windows).

git clone https://github.com/buildinternet/releases-cli.git
cd releases-cli
bun install
bun src/index.ts --help

Verify

After installing, verify the CLI is working:

releases --help

MCP server

To use Releases as an MCP tool server, the easiest path is the hosted remote server at https://mcp.releases.sh/mcp.

Cursor VS Code

Codex:

codex mcp add releases --url https://mcp.releases.sh/mcp

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http releases https://mcp.releases.sh/mcp

See the MCP Server docs for the general endpoint, client-specific setup, and stdio fallback configuration.

Environment variables

All variables are optional — nothing is required for read-only use. Admin commands need a token, which you can also store with releases auth login (see Source Management).

Variable	Default	Description
`RELEASES_API_KEY`	unset	Bearer token for `admin` / write commands. Takes priority over a credential stored via `releases auth login` — handy for CI or per-command overrides.
`RELEASES_API_URL`	`https://api.releases.sh`	Point the CLI at a different API host, e.g. a self-hosted or staging endpoint.
`RELEASES_INSTALL_DIR`	`/usr/local/bin`	Install location used by the `install.sh` script.
`RELEASES_TELEMETRY_DISABLED`	unset	Set to `1` to opt out of anonymous telemetry. `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` is also honored — see Privacy & Telemetry.
`RELEASES_DISABLE_SKILL_UPDATE_CHECK`	unset	Set to `1` to silence the once-a-day "skills are behind, run `releases skills install`" reminder.
`RELEASES_NO_COMPLETION_HINT`	unset	Set to `1` to silence the shell-completion setup reminder on the landing screen and `--help`.
`RELEASES_RUN_DIR`	unset	When set, each `admin` write appends a JSONL line to `$RELEASES_RUN_DIR/mutations.jsonl` — an audit trail for agent-driven maintenance batches.

Telemetry

The CLI and local MCP server record anonymous usage events (command name, CLI version, OS/arch, exit code, duration) to help us understand what's used. No arguments, flag values, queries, or content are ever sent. Opt out any time:

releases telemetry disable              # persistent
RELEASES_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 releases … # per-invocation

See Privacy & Telemetry for the full list of what is and isn't collected.