Installing the Anchors CLI

The Anchors CLI (anchors) is distributed as a single static binary with zero external runtime dependencies. It runs seamlessly on local developer machines, inside AI pair programming environments (such as Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or terminal agents), and within continuous integration (CI/CD) pipelines.

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1. Quick Install (Recommended)

macOS & Linux via Homebrew

The simplest and most automated way to install and maintain Anchors on macOS and Linux is through Homebrew:

# Add the official CO2 Lab tap
brew tap co2-lab/tap

# Install Anchors
brew install anchors

# Verify installation
anchors version

Automated Shell Installer (macOS & Linux)

If you do not use Homebrew, you can install the latest release directly via our secure installer script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/co2-lab/anchors/main/install.sh | bash

The installer detects your operating system and architecture (amd64 or arm64), downloads the latest verified GitHub release binary, verifies checksums, and places it in /usr/local/bin (or ~/.local/bin).

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2. Install via Go Toolchain

If you have Go (1.23+) installed on your machine:

go install github.com/co2-lab/anchors/cmd/anchors@latest

Ensure that $GOPATH/bin (typically ~/go/bin) is in your system’s PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/go/bin:$PATH"

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3. Direct Binary Download (GitHub Releases)

You can download pre-compiled, signed standalone binaries directly from GitHub Releases:

Operating System	Architecture	Binary Package
macOS	Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)	anchors_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
macOS	Intel (x86_64)	anchors_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
Linux	64-bit x86 (amd64)	anchors_linux_amd64.tar.gz
Linux	ARM64 (aarch64)	anchors_linux_arm64.tar.gz
Windows	64-bit (x86_64)	anchors_windows_amd64.zip

Manual Installation Steps:

# Example for Linux AMD64
curl -LO https://github.com/co2-lab/anchors/releases/latest/download/anchors_linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf anchors_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv anchors /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/anchors

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4. Windows Installation

Via PowerShell (Direct Download):

Open PowerShell as Administrator:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/co2-lab/anchors/releases/latest/download/anchors_windows_amd64.zip" -OutFile "$env:TEMPnchors.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "$env:TEMPnchors.zip" -DestinationPath "$env:ProgramFiles\Anchors" -Force
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";$env:ProgramFiles\Anchors", "Machine")

Via Scoop:

scoop bucket add co2-lab https://github.com/co2-lab/scoop-bucket.git
scoop install anchors

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5. Docker & CI/CD Environments

Docker Image

Anchors is available on GitHub Packages as a minimal, scratch-based container:

docker pull ghcr.io/co2-lab/anchors:latest

# Run against current directory
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace -w /workspace ghcr.io/co2-lab/anchors:latest check

GitHub Actions

To run Anchors in your GitHub Actions CI workflows, add the official setup action:

name: Anchors Quality Gates

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  anchors-gate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: co2-lab/setup-anchors@v1
        with:
          version: 'latest'
      - name: Run Anchors Pipeline
        run: anchors check

GitLab CI

anchors_check:
  image: ghcr.io/co2-lab/anchors:latest
  stage: test
  script:
    - anchors check

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6. Shell Autocompletions

Enable tab autocompletions for all commands and flags in your shell:

Zsh (macOS / Linux)

anchors completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_anchors"
# Or append to your .zshrc:
echo 'source <(anchors completion zsh)' >> ~/.zshrc

Bash

anchors completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/anchors
# Or local profile:
echo 'source <(anchors completion bash)' >> ~/.bashrc

Fish

anchors completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/anchors.fish

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7. Verifying Your Installation

Once installed, run:

# Print installed version and build metadata
anchors version

# Run ecosystem diagnostic
anchors doctor

If you see the output with no errors, you’re ready to proceed to The Workflow or inspect the Commands Reference!