Installation

Install Polytoken with the shell installer. The installer works on Linux and macOS for amd64 and arm64 systems.

Default install

The default command installs the newest published release:

curl -fsS https://get.polytoken.dev | bash

The installer uses the latest channel by default. The polytoken update command also defaults to latest, so installation and updates track the same channel unless you change either setting.

Stable channel

The stable channel resolves the promoted production release. Use it to opt into a more conservative update cadence:

curl -fsS https://get.polytoken.dev | env PT_CHANNEL=stable bash

Both channels serve the same polytoken executable. The installer reads https://dl.polytoken.dev/channels.json to determine the selected channel’s current version.

Keeping Polytoken current

Polytoken can update itself. Run polytoken update to check the configured channel and apply the update if a newer version is available. The command verifies the signed update feed, downloads and extracts the new binary, and replaces the running binary in a crash-safe manner. See Updating Polytoken for the full command reference, including flags and exit codes.

By default, Polytoken checks for updates when you start an interactive session, at most once every 24 hours. Polytoken prompts you if an update is available. To disable automatic checks, set updates.automatic_check = false in your global config. See Updating Polytoken for the cadence, timeout, and fail-open behavior.

Shell installer behavior

The installer downloads the current release for your selected channel, operating system, and CPU architecture, then verifies the binary against the published SHA-256 checksum before installation.

The installer chooses an install directory from your PATH when possible. If $HOME/.local/bin or $HOME/bin is already in PATH, the installer uses that directory. Otherwise, the installer installs to $HOME/.local/bin and prints the PATH line to add to your shell profile.

The installer does not use sudo and does not edit your shell profile.

Choose a version or install location

Set PT_VERSION to install a specific version instead of the channel’s current version. The value must be a plain X.Y.Z version number:

curl -fsS https://get.polytoken.dev | env PT_VERSION=0.8.21 bash

If you omit PT_VERSION or use PT_VERSION=latest, the installer reads https://dl.polytoken.dev/channels.json and installs the selected channel’s current version.

Set PT_INSTALL_DIR to choose the install directory:

curl -fsS https://get.polytoken.dev | env PT_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/bin" bash

Set PT_BASE_URL to download channels.json, the executable, and the checksums from a base URL other than the default https://dl.polytoken.dev. The value must use https://.

Use PT_DRY_RUN=1 to print the installation plan without installing or replacing the polytoken executable:

curl -fsS https://get.polytoken.dev | env PT_DRY_RUN=1 bash

A dry run leaves no files behind. If you omit PT_VERSION or use PT_VERSION=latest, the installer downloads channels.json to a temporary directory to resolve the version, then removes the directory when the dry run exits.

Use PT_VERBOSE=1 to print download and checksum progress.

Direct downloads

The downloads page lists release archives and SHA-256 checksums for every supported platform.

Terminal color support

The TUI requires a terminal that supports at least 256 colors. Polytoken detects color support automatically from terminal signals including COLORTERM, TERM, the standard color variables NO_COLOR and FORCE_COLOR, your terminal program, and terminfo capabilities. Because the TUI requires color, NO_COLOR does not disable color output.

If your terminal advertises 24-bit truecolor (most modern terminals do), Polytoken renders in full RGB. On terminals that support only 256 colors, Polytoken quantizes the design tokens to the nearest indexed color automatically.

You can override the detection with the POLYTOKEN_TUI_COLOR_MODE environment variable:

• POLYTOKEN_TUI_COLOR_MODE=truecolor forces 24-bit RGB output.
• POLYTOKEN_TUI_COLOR_MODE=256 forces 256-color indexed output.

Set POLYTOKEN_TUI_COLOR_MODE if your terminal reports capabilities incorrectly, or if you want to test how the TUI looks with quantized colors.