Getting started

Install

macOS and Linux (Homebrew):

brew install ripeat/tap/ripeat

Windows (Scoop; it needs git to add a bucket):

scoop install git
scoop bucket add ripeat https://github.com/ripeat/scoop-bucket
scoop install ripeat

Check it worked: ripeat version prints the version, and ripeat with no arguments, in a terminal, asks what you want to do (below); in a script or a pipe it prints the command list.

Update: brew update && brew upgrade ripeat/tap/ripeat, or scoop update ripeat. ripeat version --check tells you whether a newer release is out.

By hand: each release at github.com/ripeat/releases has one archive per system (darwin, linux, windows, on amd64 and arm64) and a checksums.txt. Check the download against it before you run it. Programs downloaded in a browser are not signed (ripeat does not do code signing), so Windows SmartScreen or macOS Gatekeeper may warn about them; installing with Homebrew or Scoop avoids that.

Where ripeat keeps its files

The folder is $RIPEAT_HOME, or ripeat inside your user config folder (~/.config/ripeat on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/ripeat on macOS, %AppData%\ripeat on Windows).

Path	What it is
state.json	What ripeat installed and the journal of runs (the last 20)
state.json.lock	Held while a command that writes state is running
recipes/*.yaml	Your own recipes; they win over built-in ones and over those of recipe packs
profiles/*.yaml	Saved profiles, run by name with --profile (Profiles: your list)
drafts/*.yaml	Recipes an AI assistant prepared, waiting for your approval; never read as recipes (Drafts from an assistant)
taps/<name>/, taps.json	The recipe packs you added: their recipes, and each pack's repository, pinned commit and settings (Recipe packs (taps))
installers/<name>/	The .msi file kept so it can be uninstalled later (Vendor installers)
apps/<name>/	Programs installed from downloads (Downloads (GitHub, URL))
bin/	Links to those programs. Add this folder to your PATH yourself; ripeat never edits your shell files

ripeat.yaml, ripeat.lock and ripeat.policy.yaml live in the folder you run ripeat from.

Start here: the menu

Type ripeat in a terminal and it asks one question:

What would you like to do?
  1. Create a profile: a list of tools, written in your editor
  2. Use a saved profile (none yet)
  3. Install tools by name
  4. See all commands

• 1 asks for a name and opens your editor ($VISUAL, then $EDITOR) on a blank profile that starts with a link to how to write one. Leave the editor to save it; it is checked first.
• 2 lists your saved profiles and, for the one you pick, shows its plan and risk and asks before installing anything.
• 3 takes tool names and does the same: the plan and its risk, then the question. A name with no recipe offers to look it up.
• 4 prints every command. An empty answer, q, or the end of the input leaves without doing anything.

The menu only runs the ordinary commands (profile create, install), so every question, risk rating and confirmation they have still applies, and there is no way to skip them from here.

First run

Look first, then act. plan is install --dry-run: it prints the plan and changes nothing.

ripeat recipes              # what ripeat knows how to install
ripeat plan git node        # what would happen
ripeat install git node     # do it
ripeat list                 # what ripeat manages
ripeat rollback             # undo the last run

With no tool names, install reads ./ripeat.yaml if it exists (Profiles: your list).

Every command

The command reference lists every command, what it changes, and its options.

--dry-run is available on install, uninstall, rollback and upgrade, and a dry run never writes state. install, uninstall and upgrade show what they will do and ask before changing anything; add --yes to skip the question (required when there is no terminal).