Installation

niso runs natively on Linux. macOS and Windows developers use a lightweight VM for isolation commands.

Linux#

The recommended installation method is the install script. It downloads the correct binary for your architecture and places it in /usr/local/bin.

bash
$ curl -sSL https://niso.dev/install.sh | sh
Requirements
Linux with systemd 250+ and cgroups v2. Supported architectures: x86_64, aarch64.

Manual installation

Download the binary directly and install it yourself:

bash
# x86_64$ curl -Lo niso https://niso.dev/releases/latest/niso-linux-x86_64$ chmod +x niso$ sudo mv niso /usr/local/bin/# aarch64$ curl -Lo niso https://niso.dev/releases/latest/niso-linux-aarch64$ chmod +x niso$ sudo mv niso /usr/local/bin/

Verify installation

bash
$ niso --version  niso 0.9.0 (linux/x86_64)$ niso info  Version:    0.9.0  Platform:   linux/x86_64  systemd:    254  cgroups:    v2  State DB:   /opt/niso/state/niso.db

macOS#

On macOS, niso runs ~70% of commands natively (pack, push, pull, fleet, inspect, search). Isolation commands use a lightweight Linux VM via the Apple Virtualization Framework.

bash
$ curl -sSL https://niso.dev/install.sh | sh# Start the VM for isolation commands$ niso machine start$ niso machine config --cpus 4 --memory 4G --disk 20G
Tip
Most development workflows (pack, push, pull) work natively without starting the VM. You only need the VM for activate, run, stack up, and other isolation commands.

Windows#

On Windows, niso runs natively inside WSL2. For non-WSL environments, a Hyper-V VM provides the Linux runtime.

bash
# Inside WSL2 (recommended)$ curl -sSL https://niso.dev/install.sh | sh# Or use Hyper-V VM$ niso machine start

Shell completions#

Generate shell completions for faster CLI usage:

bash
# Bash$ niso completions bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/niso# Zsh$ niso completions zsh > /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_niso# Fish$ niso completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/niso.fish

Uninstall#

bash
$ sudo rm /usr/local/bin/niso$ sudo rm -rf /opt/niso /var/lib/niso /etc/niso