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Install kwt

Choose a Go install, a release archive, or a source build. kwt supports:

  • macOS 13 or newer, Linux, and Windows;
  • Git 2.20 or newer;
  • Git 2.42.0 or newer on macOS and Linux, or Git for Windows 2.53.0.windows.3 or newer, for kwt pr import;
  • Git 2.31 or newer for kwt doctor, kwt prune --expired, and kwt prune --merged;
  • tmux 2.1 or newer for workspace launch and kwt tmux; and
  • Go 1.27 or newer for go install and source builds.

The worktree-oriented CLI can still be used without tmux.

Install with Go

Install v0.5.1 with:

go install go.kenn.io/kwt/cmd/kwt@v0.5.1

Go places the binary in $(go env GOPATH)/bin by default. Make sure that directory is on PATH, then confirm the installation:

kwt version

Use @latest when you want Go to select the newest tagged release:

go install go.kenn.io/kwt/cmd/kwt@latest

Download a release archive

The GitHub Releases page provides v0.5.1 archives for:

  • macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon and Intel;
  • Linux on ARM64 and AMD64; and
  • Windows on ARM64 and AMD64.

Each release includes checksums.txt. Verify the archive before extracting it, then place kwt (or kwt.exe) somewhere on PATH. The older v0.3.0 tag predates packaged release artifacts and remains available through go install.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/kenn-io/kwt.git
cd kwt
make build
./kwt version

Use make install to install the current checkout into the first directory in GOPATH. Set INSTALL_DIR to choose another location:

make INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin" install

Add shell integration

kwt can generate completions for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and PowerShell. For example:

source <(kwt completion zsh)

source <(kwt completion bash)

kwt completion fish | source

kwt completion powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

When cd.launch_shell = false, the same generated script also installs the wrapper that lets kwt cd change the current shell's directory.

Continue with the quickstart to create and open your first workspace.