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Install Skink on Linux, macOS and Windows

Skink installs with one command and needs no sudo or admin prompt.

The installer downloads the prebuilt binary for your machine, checks its SHA-256, and puts it in your user folder.

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://skink.cc/install.sh | sh

The binary goes to ~/.local/bin. The script adds that folder to your PATH in your shell’s startup file if it is missing.

skink.cc/install.sh and skink.cc/install.ps1 redirect to the scripts attached to the latest GitHub release. Read them first if you like; the GitHub URLs work too.

Check that it worked

Section titled “Check that it worked”
Terminal window
skink --version

If your shell does not see skink yet, open a new terminal first so it picks up the new PATH.

Which binaries exist

Section titled “Which binaries exist”

Prebuilt binaries cover:

  • Linux x86_64 and aarch64 (static musl, so they run on any distribution)
  • macOS Apple Silicon and Intel
  • Windows x86_64

On any other CPU the installer stops and tells you to build from source with cargo install.

Installer options

Section titled “Installer options”

Set these as environment variables. On Linux and macOS, the flags go after sh -s --.

Variable or flag Effect
SKINK_VERSION=v0.1.0 Install a specific release instead of the latest
SKINK_INSTALL_DIR=DIR Install somewhere else
SKINK_NO_MODIFY_PATH=1 or --no-modify-path Leave your shell startup files and PATH alone
--uninstall (Unix) / SKINK_UNINSTALL=1 (PowerShell) Remove the binary and the PATH entry the installer added
SKINK_BASE_URL=URL Download from a mirror instead of GitHub

For example, to install into /opt/bin without touching your shell files:

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://skink.cc/install.sh \
  | SKINK_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/bin sh -s -- --no-modify-path

Install by hand

Section titled “Install by hand”
  1. Download skink-<target>.tar.gz (or .zip on Windows) and its .sha256 from the releases page.
  2. Check it with shasum -a 256 -c.
  3. Unpack it and put skink in a folder on your PATH.

Upgrade

Section titled “Upgrade”

Skink updates itself:

Terminal window
skink --upgrade                      # install the latest release in place
skink --upgrade --check              # only report whether a newer release exists
skink --upgrade --version 0.1.0      # install that release (can downgrade)

skink upgrade works too. :upgrade does the same from inside the editor, in the background. The new version runs from the next start.

Update checks

Section titled “Update checks”

By default Skink checks GitHub at most once a day and says so in the status line. Change that with the updates setting in settings.json:

  • "notify" (default): check and tell you
  • "auto": check and install, used from the next start
  • "off": never check

SKINK_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 also turns the check off, and so does running in CI.

If you installed through cargo, Homebrew, scoop or winget, skink --upgrade prints that tool’s command instead of overwriting its files.

Uninstall

Section titled “Uninstall”
Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://skink.cc/install.sh | sh -s -- --uninstall

Your settings stay in the config folder: ~/.config/skink, or %APPDATA%\skink on Windows. Delete it by hand if you want them gone.

Icons and fonts

Section titled “Icons and fonts”

Skink draws file and status icons with Nerd Font glyphs. The font belongs to your terminal, not to Skink.

  • Ghostty, Kitty and WezTerm already include the Nerd Font symbols.
  • In other terminals, install a Nerd Font and select it in the terminal’s settings.
  • On Windows Terminal, CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font is a good pick.

Icons show as boxes or question marks

Section titled “Icons show as boxes or question marks”

Switch to plain text:

Terminal window
export SKINK_ICONS=ascii

Or set "icons": "ascii" in settings.json (see Configuration).

A terminal with truecolor gives the best colours.

Next: Quick start.