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Installation

There are four supported ways to install the kaid CLI.

Which method should I use?

  • Install script - fastest path for CI base images and headless machines. It verifies the release checksum.
  • Release binary - no shell pipeline; download the file for your platform directly.
  • go install - you already have Go and want the latest module version.
  • Build from source - you are hacking on kaid or need a platform without a pre-built binary.

Install script (curl | sh)

A convenience installer that wraps the GitHub Release binary download (with checksum verification):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/master/scripts/install.sh | sh

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/master/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Both installers honour three environment variables:

Variable Default Purpose
KAID_INSTALL_DIR /usr/local/bin Where to place the kaid binary.
KAID_VERSION latest release Pin a specific release tag (e.g. v1.2.3).
KAID_GITHUB_MIRROR (unset) Download the release binary and its checksum through a GitHub mirror domain (e.g. gh-proxy.com).

The shell script supports darwin and linux on amd64 / arm64. The PowerShell installer supports Windows on amd64 / arm64 and defaults to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\kaid; set $env:KAID_INSTALL_DIR to change it.

Using a GitHub mirror

In regions where network access to GitHub is slow, set KAID_GITHUB_MIRROR to a mirror domain to download the release binary and its checksum through it:

export KAID_GITHUB_MIRROR='YOUR_MIRROR_DOMAIN'

The value must be a bare domain name — no https:// scheme and no trailing slash (gh-proxy.com, not https://gh-proxy.com/). It is used as a path prefix mirror: the binary is fetched from https://<mirror>/github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/download/<version>/…. Domain-substitution mirrors (e.g. one that rewrites github.com to hub.example.org) won't match this shape — use a path-prefix mirror instead.

The mirror covers both the release binary and its sha256sum.txt checksum. Version resolution (when KAID_VERSION is unset) still calls the GitHub API directly, not the mirror. To skip version resolution entirely, pin a version:

export KAID_VERSION='v1.2.3'

Mirror mode weakens integrity checks

The mirror is a third-party service. When KAID_GITHUB_MIRROR is set, both the binary and its sha256sum.txt are downloaded from it, so a malicious mirror can serve a tampered binary together with a matching checksum. If you cannot trust the mirror, verify the downloaded file against the upstream sha256sum.txt on the releases page.

GitHub Release binary

If you prefer a direct download, grab the static binary from the releases page:

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -Lo kaid https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/latest/download/kaid-darwin-arm64
chmod +x kaid && sudo mv kaid /usr/local/bin/kaid

# macOS (Intel)
curl -Lo kaid https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/latest/download/kaid-darwin-amd64
chmod +x kaid && sudo mv kaid /usr/local/bin/kaid

# Linux x86_64
curl -Lo kaid https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/latest/download/kaid-linux-amd64
chmod +x kaid && sudo mv kaid /usr/local/bin/kaid

# Linux ARM64
curl -Lo kaid https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/latest/download/kaid-linux-arm64
chmod +x kaid && sudo mv kaid /usr/local/bin/kaid

# Windows (AMD64)
curl -Lo kaid.exe https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/latest/download/kaid-windows-amd64.exe

# Windows (ARM64)
curl -Lo kaid.exe https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/latest/download/kaid-windows-arm64.exe

Each release also publishes sha256sum.txt next to the binaries so you can verify integrity:

curl -LO https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/releases/latest/download/sha256sum.txt
shasum -a 256 -c sha256sum.txt --ignore-missing

go install

With Go 1.26.10 or newer:

go install github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid/cmd/kaid@latest

This installs kaid into $(go env GOPATH)/bin (usually ~/go/bin). Make sure that directory is on your PATH.

go install builds directly from the module source without the release ldflags, so kaid version may report dev instead of a release tag.

Build from source

You only need this path if you're hacking on kaid or running on a platform without a pre-built binary.

Prerequisites

  • Go ≥ 1.26.10
  • Git
  • A POSIX shell such as Bash (on Windows, use Git Bash or WSL)
  • Task v3, only for the task test and task check shortcuts

Build

git clone https://github.com/CHE3MZ/kaid.git
cd kaid
./scripts/build.sh

On Windows, run it through Git Bash:

sh scripts/build.sh

scripts/build.sh builds all six release targets into dist/:

  • dist/kaid-linux-amd64
  • dist/kaid-linux-arm64
  • dist/kaid-darwin-amd64
  • dist/kaid-darwin-arm64
  • dist/kaid-windows-amd64.exe
  • dist/kaid-windows-arm64.exe

It also writes dist/sha256sum.txt and dist/VERSION. Override the version stamp with VERSION, for example VERSION=1.2.3 ./scripts/build.sh.

Copy the binary for your platform into your PATH, for example:

sudo cp dist/kaid-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/kaid

Official releases are built with GoReleaser in CI.

Run tests

task test               # LC_ALL=C go test -v -race -count=1 ./...

Verifying the install

Wherever you got the binary from:

kaid version             # prints version + git commit + build date
kaid --help              # top-level usage
kaid review --help       # full review-command flag list

If you see a "command not found" error, double-check that the install location is on your $PATH:

which kaid
echo $PATH

Enable Shell Completion (optional)

kaid supports tab-completion for bash, zsh, fish, and PowerShell.

# bash
source <(kaid completion bash)

# zsh
kaid completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_kaid"

See the CLI Reference for fish, PowerShell, and persistent setup instructions.

Where kaid stores state

Path What it holds
~/.kaid/config.json LLM endpoint, language, telemetry config (managed by kaid config set).
~/.kaid/rule.json Optional global review rules.
~/.kaid/sessions/<encoded-repo-path>/<session-id>.jsonl Streaming JSONL transcript of every review session, used by kaid viewer.
<repo>/.kaid/rule.json Optional per-project review rules — safe to commit.

kaid never writes outside ~/.kaid/ (besides the transient binary download via the install script). Removing the directory is a clean uninstall.

Next steps

Quickstart Configuration

  • Quickstart - configure an LLM and run your first review.
  • Configuration - every env var and config key kaid honors.
  • AGENTS.md - build from source, run tests, and hack on kaid.