EarthBuild
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Documentation

Install EarthBuild

Step-by-step instructions for installing EarthBuild CLI via Homebrew, cURL script, manual binary, Windows (WSL 2), Nix, and GitHub Actions.

Get EarthBuild running on your machine in under a minute.

📋 Prerequisites

EarthBuild supports Podman, Docker, and Apple container engines out-of-the-box by default:

🍺 Homebrew (macOS & Linux)

The easiest way to install and keep EarthBuild updated on macOS and Linux:

brew install earthbuild/tap/earth

🐚 Shell Script (Linux, macOS, WSL 2)

Install the latest release automatically with our official install script:

curl -fsSL https://www.earthbuild.dev/install.sh | sh

📦 Manual Binary Download

Download and install pre-compiled binaries directly from GitHub Releases:

# Set your architecture (e.g., amd64, arm64)
ARCH=amd64

# Download the latest Linux release
curl -LO "https://github.com/earthbuild/earthbuild/releases/latest/download/earth-linux-${ARCH}"

# Make it executable and place in PATH
chmod +x "earth-linux-${ARCH}"
sudo mv "earth-linux-${ARCH}" /usr/local/bin/earth

For macOS Darwin binaries, replace earth-linux-${ARCH} with earth-darwin-arm64 (Apple Silicon) or earth-darwin-amd64 (Intel).

🪟 Windows (WSL 2)

Inside your WSL 2 Ubuntu / Debian terminal:

curl -fsSL https://www.earthbuild.dev/install.sh | sh

Note: Native Windows support is experimental. We recommend using WSL 2 for container isolation, BuildKit caching, and performance parity with Linux.

❄️ Nix & NixOS

EarthBuild is packaged in nixpkgs:

Temporary Shell:

nix-shell -p earthbuild

NixOS (configuration.nix):

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.earthbuild ];

nix-darwin:

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.earthbuild ];

Home Manager (home.nix):

home.packages = [ pkgs.earthbuild ];

🐳 Docker Container

Run EarthBuild directly inside Docker without installing the host binary:

docker run --privileged --rm \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v $(pwd):/workspace \
  -w /workspace \
  earthbuild/earthbuild:latest +build

⚡ GitHub Actions CI/CD

Integrate EarthBuild into your GitHub Actions pipelines with official caching and setup:

name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup EarthBuild
        uses: earthbuild/actions-setup@v2
        with:
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Execute Pipeline
        run: earth --ci +all

✅ Verification & Setup

Verify that the CLI is installed and check the version:

earth --version

Initialize the BuildKit daemon container (first-time bootstrap):

earth bootstrap

Next Steps