# Install the `snoutdata` CLI **There are two front doors, and they are for different people.** Both install the same tool from the same build, so pick whichever fits the machine you are on. | | | | --- | --- | | **A binary**, for a person | `curl -fsSL https://snoutdata.com/install.sh \| sh` | | **npm**, for an agent or a Node project | `npx snoutdata ` | The binary needs nothing installed. `npx` needs Node 20 or newer, which is the whole reason the binary exists: a Go, Python or Rust shop should not have to install a JavaScript runtime to get a Postgres database. ## The binary ```bash curl -fsSL https://snoutdata.com/install.sh | sh ``` macOS and Linux, on Intel and on ARM. It puts a single executable in `$HOME/.local/bin` and tells you if that is not on your `PATH`, because a successful install followed by `command not found` is the commonest way this goes wrong. **It verifies what it downloaded before it installs it.** Every release publishes a `SHA256SUMS` file beside the binaries; the script checks the one it fetched against that list and stops if they disagree. If the machine has no `sha256sum` and no `shasum`, it refuses to install rather than installing something it could not check. A script you pipe into a shell should be held to that. Two environment variables change what it does: ```bash # a specific version rather than the newest curl -fsSL https://snoutdata.com/install.sh | SNOUTDATA_VERSION=0.3.0 sh # somewhere else entirely curl -fsSL https://snoutdata.com/install.sh | SNOUTDATA_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin sh ``` To **update**, run the same line again: it overwrites the binary in place. To **uninstall**, delete the file. There is nothing else on the machine except `~/.snoutdata/auth.json`, which is your session, and `snoutdata logout` removes that. ### Windows The installer does not serve Windows. Use `npx snoutdata`, or take `snoutdata-windows-x64.exe` from the [releases page](https://github.com/snoutdata/app/releases) and put it somewhere on your `PATH`. ## npm ```bash npx snoutdata init --env # no install at all npm install -g snoutdata # or keep it around ``` `npx` downloads one bundled file with no dependencies and runs it, which is why an MCP config can say `npx -y snoutdata` and be the entire setup. That shape is the reason this door exists: an agent that has to install something first, and then find it on a `PATH` it cannot see, fails at exactly that step. Pinning is free and worth doing in CI: `npx -y snoutdata@0.3.0`. :::note The two doors are built by one job from one commit, so `curl | sh` and `npx` give you the same tool. The **local development** commands (`snoutdata start`, `stop`, `status`) need **0.3.0 or newer**: an earlier CLI could not run a database from an install, only from a checkout. ::: ## Signing in Whichever door you came in by: ```bash snoutdata login # opens a browser snoutdata login --device # prints a code to type into a browser anywhere snoutdata login --no-browser # prints the URL instead of opening one ``` The session lasts an hour and is refreshed while you are at the machine. For CI, a cron job or an agent, make an access token instead: see [access tokens](https://docs.snoutdata.com/cloud/getting-started#access-tokens-for-ci-and-agents). ## Next - [Create a database](https://docs.snoutdata.com/cloud/getting-started), in one command. - [CLI reference](https://docs.snoutdata.com/cloud/cli), for every command and flag. - [Local development](https://docs.snoutdata.com/cloud/local), for a Postgres on this machine that matches the hosted one.