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

This uses the latest channel, which resolves the newest published version. This matches the in-app updater’s default channel, so the installer and the updater track the same channel unless you change one of them.

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 latest channel resolves the newest published version. The stable channel resolves the promoted production release. Both read channels.json at https://dl.polytoken.dev/channels.json to determine the current version for each channel.

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.

Polytoken also checks for updates automatically at launch. This check runs at most once every 24 hours and prompts you if an update is available. The check is on by default. To disable it, set updates.automatic_check = false in your config. See Updating Polytoken for the cadence, timeout, and fail-open behavior.

Shell installer behavior

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

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 from the selected channel:

curl -fsS https://get.polytoken.dev | env PT_VERSION=0.3.3 bash

When PT_VERSION is unset or set to latest, the installer reads the MOST_RECENT_VERSION marker at https://dl.polytoken.dev/MOST_RECENT_VERSION.

Set PT_INSTALL_DIR to choose the install directory:

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

Use PT_DRY_RUN=1 to see what the installer would do without changing files:

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

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 by checking COLORTERM, TERM, and terminfo capabilities.

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.