Installation

The kiw CLI is the unified developer multi-tool for the Krewire ecosystem. A single binary powers project scaffolding, code generation, local development servers, testing, asset compilation, and production deployment across all eight workloads.

1. System Requirements

Before installing kiw, verify that your development environment satisfies the baseline requirements:

Check your current Go version:

go version

[!NOTE] If you do not have Go installed, download and install the official package from golang.org/dl.

2. Installation Methods

Choose the installation method best suited to your platform and workflow:

Method A: Automated Shell Installer (Linux & macOS)

The recommended installation method for Linux and macOS systems uses the automated installation script:

curl -fsSL https://krewire.com/scripts/install.sh | sh

How the Installer Works:

1. Platform Detection: Inspects your kernel (Linux/Darwin) and CPU architecture (x86_64/arm64).
2. Tag Resolution: Resolves the latest official stable release (e.g. v0.1.0) from the GitHub release registry.
3. Checksum Verification: Downloads the official kiw_checksums.txt manifest and cryptographically validates the SHA256 hash of the downloaded archive before extraction.
4. Atomic Placement: Places the binary into /usr/local/bin using install -m 755. If run without root permissions, it automatically falls back to ~/.local/bin.
5. Secure Cleanup: Traps exit signals (INT, TERM, EXIT) to guarantee temporary extraction directories are safely erased.

To customize the installation directory, pass the INSTALL_DIR environment variable:

curl -fsSL https://krewire.com/scripts/install.sh | INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/bin" sh

Method B: Install via Go Toolchain (Cross-Platform / Windows)

If you already have Go installed and $GOPATH/bin configured in your system PATH, install kiw directly from source:

go install github.com/krewire/kiw/cmd/kiw@latest

To pin a specific version (e.g. v0.1.0):

go install github.com/krewire/kiw/cmd/kiw@v0.1.0

Configuring Your PATH:

Ensure your Go binary directory is included in your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or Windows Environment Variables):

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc if not already present:
export PATH="$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin"

On Windows PowerShell:

$env:Path += ";$((go env GOPATH))\bin"

3. Verifying the Installation

After installation completes, verify that the binary is accessible and operational:

1. Version Inspection

kiw version

Expected output:

kiw Krewire Devtool
  version:   v0.1.0
  built:     2026-09-29
  target:    site, book, app, cli, worker, service, infra, runtime

2. Environment Diagnostics

Run kiw info to inspect your active toolchain, operating system, and Go environment:

kiw info

3. Compatibility Check

Run kiw compat inside any Krewire project directory to verify that your local CLI matches the framework dependencies in go.mod:

kiw compat

4. Upgrading kiw

To upgrade to the latest stable release:

• Via Shell Installer:

  curl -fsSL https://krewire.com/scripts/install.sh | sh
  

• Via Go Toolchain:

  go install github.com/krewire/kiw/cmd/kiw@latest
  

5. Uninstalling kiw

Because kiw is distributed as a single static binary with no background daemons or registry entries, uninstallation is straightforward:

# For standard system-wide install:
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/kiw

# For user-local install:
rm -f ~/.local/bin/kiw

# For Go bin install:
rm -f "$(go env GOPATH)/bin/kiw"

Next Steps

Now that your toolchain is installed, proceed to 2.2 Configuration → to learn how to configure projects using krewire.yaml.