Install

Quick install (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw/main/scripts/bootstrap.sh | bash

The script:

• detects your platform (Linux x86_64/aarch64/armv7, macOS Intel/Apple Silicon),
• downloads the matching prebuilt binary from the latest release ,
• verifies its SHA256 checksum,
• installs to ~/.cargo/bin or ~/.local/bin,
• prints the export PATH=... line for your shell if needed,
• runs rantaiclaw setup --force at the end — the full guided wizard (provider, approvals, channels, persona, skills, MCP). Reattaches /dev/tty so prompts still work under curl | bash. Pass --skip-setup or set RANTAICLAW_SKIP_SETUP=1 to install only.

No Rust toolchain. No compiler. No git clone.

Verify

rantaiclaw --version

If you see command not found, the installer printed a PATH export — copy that line into your shell rc and re-source it. See What the installer does to your PATH below.

What the installer does to your PATH

The installer picks an install directory that’s already on $PATH whenever possible. When it can’t, it offers to amend your shell rc file so the binary is picked up next time you open a shell.

Shell-rc files written by the installer, by shell:

After the install finishes, if the binary isn’t usable in the current shell, a bold ⚠ ACTION REQUIRED box is printed with the exact source command to run. The two most common cases:

# bash on Linux
source ~/.bashrc
 
# zsh (Linux or macOS)
source ~/.zshrc
 
# fish
exec fish        # or: source ~/.config/fish/config.fish

Opening a new terminal also works.

Controlling the PATH amendment

If you piped curl | bash (no TTY for prompts), the installer behaves as if RANTAICLAW_NO_MODIFY_PATH=1 and just prints the export line — review it, then add it yourself:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc
source ~/.bashrc

Windows

A native Windows installer is the recommended path. WSL2 remains an alternative for users who prefer a Linux toolchain.

Option 0 — Native Windows one-liner (easiest)

Open PowerShell and run:

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw/main/scripts/install.ps1 -UseBasicParsing | iex

The script detects your architecture, downloads rantaiclaw-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip + SHA256SUMS from the latest release, verifies the checksum, extracts to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\rantaiclaw\, amends your User PATH via the registry (not setx — which truncates at 1024 chars), and runs rantaiclaw.exe setup --force automatically (full guided wizard — provider, approvals, channels, persona, skills, MCP). Open a new terminal afterwards because cmd.exe / VS Code / Git Bash tabs cache the old PATH. Pass -SkipSetup or set $env:RANTAICLAW_SKIP_SETUP=1 to install only.

Options (flags and env vars mirror bootstrap.sh):

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw/main/scripts/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
.\install.ps1 -InstallDir "$HOME\bin"     # custom install location
.\install.ps1 -SkipSetup                  # don't auto-run `setup --force`
.\install.ps1 -Onboard -Interactive       # legacy `onboard` flow
.\install.ps1 -NoModifyPath               # never touch PATH
.\install.ps1 -ForceModifyPath            # always amend PATH (no prompt)
.\install.ps1 -Version v0.6.52-alpha      # pin to a specific release

If PowerShell execution policy blocks a saved .ps1, either pipe via iex (in-memory; not blocked) or unblock for the current shell only with Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass.

If you’d rather do everything by hand, see Option 1 below.

Option 1 — Native Windows manual install

Step 1 — Download the binary

From the latest release , grab rantaiclaw-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip. Or in PowerShell:

$VERSION = "latest"   # or a specific tag like "v0.6.51-alpha"
$TARGET  = "x86_64-pc-windows-msvc"
curl.exe -fsSL -O "https://github.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw/releases/$VERSION/download/rantaiclaw-$TARGET.zip"

Step 2 — Extract

Expand-Archive "rantaiclaw-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip" -DestinationPath "$HOME\rantaiclaw"

That gives you C:\Users\<you>\rantaiclaw\rantaiclaw.exe.

Step 3 — Add it to PATH

Pick one of the three methods below. Method A is the easiest — one PowerShell command, no GUI.

Method A — Automatic (PowerShell, one command)

setx PATH "$HOME\rantaiclaw;$env:Path"

After running it:

• Close this PowerShell window and open a new one — setx only updates the registry; existing terminals keep their old PATH.
• rantaiclaw.exe --version should work in the new window.

If setx complains the value is too long (>1024 chars), use Method B or C instead.

Method B — GUI (most reliable on managed/corporate machines)

1. Press Win, type “Environment Variables”, and click “Edit the system environment variables”.
2. Click “Environment Variables…” at the bottom-right of the System Properties window.
3. Under “User variables for <you>” (top half), select Path and click “Edit…”.
4. Click “New” and paste C:\Users\<your-user>\rantaiclaw (replace <your-user> with your actual username).
5. Click OK → OK → OK to close all three dialogs.
6. Open a new PowerShell / Terminal window — existing windows won’t see the change.
7. Verify: rantaiclaw.exe --version.

Avoid touching System variables Path (bottom half) unless you actually want a system-wide install — that requires admin rights and affects every user.

Method C — Drop it into a folder that’s already on PATH

If you’d rather not edit PATH at all, move the binary into a folder that’s already there. Run $env:Path -split ';' in PowerShell to list them. The easiest writable choice is WindowsApps, which is always on PATH for your user:

Move-Item "$HOME\rantaiclaw\rantaiclaw.exe" "$HOME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\rantaiclaw.exe"

rantaiclaw.exe --version works immediately, even in the same window.

Step 4 — Verify

In a new PowerShell window:

rantaiclaw.exe --version       # rantaiclaw 0.6.x
rantaiclaw.exe setup           # guided wizard
rantaiclaw.exe doctor          # validate install
rantaiclaw.exe chat            # start chatting

If rantaiclaw.exe is “not recognized as the name of a cmdlet…”, your PATH edit didn’t apply — see Windows PATH troubleshooting below.

Optional — verify the cosign signature

Requires cosign :

$VERSION = "v0.6.51-alpha"   # or the latest tag
$TARGET  = "x86_64-pc-windows-msvc"
curl.exe -fsSL -O "https://github.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw/releases/download/$VERSION/rantaiclaw-$TARGET.zip.bundle"
cosign verify-blob `
  --bundle "rantaiclaw-$TARGET.zip.bundle" `
  --certificate-identity-regexp "https://github.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw/.github/workflows/pub-release.yml@.*" `
  --certificate-oidc-issuer "https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com" `
  "rantaiclaw-$TARGET.zip"

Windows PATH troubleshooting

Option 2 — WSL2

Install WSL2 :

wsl --install

Then, inside the WSL Ubuntu shell, run the standard Linux one-liner:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw/main/scripts/bootstrap.sh | bash
rantaiclaw --version

The binary lives inside the WSL filesystem; invoke it from the WSL shell (or wsl rantaiclaw from PowerShell).

Option 3 — Build from source (MSVC)

Requires Rust 1.92+ (rustup-init.exe) and the Desktop development with C++ workload from Visual Studio Build Tools. Then:

git clone https://github.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw.git
cd RantAIClaw
cargo build --release
.\target\release\rantaiclaw.exe --version

Building from source

If you have Rust 1.91+ installed:

git clone https://github.com/RantAI-dev/RantAIClaw.git
cd RantAIClaw
cargo build --release
./target/release/rantaiclaw --version

The release profile is tuned for size (opt-level = "z", lto = "fat", codegen-units = 1, strip = true, panic = "abort") — the resulting binary is ~12 MB.

For faster local builds at the cost of binary size, use the release-fast profile:

cargo build --profile release-fast

Optional features

RantAIClaw uses Cargo features to keep the default binary small. Opt in to the ones you need:

Combine them at build time:

cargo build --release --features "channel-matrix,memory-postgres,observability-otel"

Next

Run the setup wizard to bring up your first agent.