Install Axocoatl

Axocoatl publishes release binaries for Linux and macOS 11 or newer on x86_64 and aarch64. Windows runs through WSL2; there is no native Windows binary. The Linux archives target GNU libc 2.35 or newer. They do not run on musl-based distributions such as Alpine; use the Cargo or source path there.

Install the binary

Release binary

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axocoatl/axocoatl/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

The installer resolves the latest GitHub release, downloads the tarball for the current OS and architecture, and requires its matching SHA-256 file. A missing, malformed, or mismatched checksum stops installation. The script also stops before download when Linux does not report GNU libc 2.35 or newer, or when macOS is older than version 11. It installs to /usr/local/bin when writable and otherwise to ~/.local/bin.

Cargo

cargo install axocoatl-cli

Building from crates.io requires Rust 1.88 or newer.

Source checkout

git clone https://github.com/axocoatl/axocoatl
cd axocoatl
cargo build -p axocoatl-cli --release
./target/release/axocoatl --version

The root package is not the CLI. Keep the explicit -p axocoatl-cli.

Verify that your shell can find the binary:

axocoatl --version
axocoatl --help

If installation used ~/.local/bin, add it to your shell path:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Runtime prerequisites

The binary can start without every optional dependency, but the normal local workbench path uses:

• Podman for folder-anchored Session tools and parallel attempts;
• at least one configured model provider;
• Ollama plus a pulled model for the simplest local first run.

For a local Ollama setup:

ollama serve
ollama pull llama3.2

Run ollama serve in its own terminal or as its own service.

Windows through WSL2

1. In an administrator PowerShell, install WSL2 and reboot when requested:

   wsl --install

2. Open the Linux distribution and install Podman. On Ubuntu:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y podman

3. Run the release installer inside WSL2, then continue with axocoatl onboard.

axocoatl dev runs inside WSL2. Open http://localhost:8080 from the Windows browser; WSL2 normally forwards that loopback port to the host.

The default sandbox still needs Podman

Installing the Axocoatl binary does not install or start Podman. Without a ready Podman runtime, doctor warns and folder Sessions cannot use the default local sandbox. A deliberately configured E2B Cloud backend is the separate remote option.

Next

Create a configuration and run doctor →