Installer reference#

Tip

On macOS and Linux, Homebrew is the recommended installation method. The shell scripts below are an alternative for environments without Homebrew (CI, containers, Windows).

cx provides standalone installer scripts for macOS, Linux, and Windows. These scripts automate downloading the correct binary, verifying its checksum, setting up your PATH, and optionally running cx bootstrap.

Usage#

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | sh

or with wget:

wget -qO- https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.ps1 | iex"

Tip

You can inspect the scripts before running them:

curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | less

irm https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.ps1 | more

What the installer does#

  1. Detects your platform — operating system and CPU architecture

  2. Downloads the binary from GitHub Releases

  3. Verifies the SHA256 checksum against the published .sha256 file

  4. Installs the binary to the install directory

  5. Updates your shell profile / PATH so cx is available in new shells

  6. Runs cx bootstrap to set up the conda environment

Options#

All options are set via environment variables and work on both platforms.

Variable

Default

Description

CX_INSTALL_DIR

~/.local/bin (Unix) or %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin (Windows)

Directory to place the cx binary

CX_VERSION

latest

Version to install (without v prefix, e.g. 0.1.3)

CX_NO_PATH_UPDATE

(unset)

Set to any value to skip shell profile / PATH modification

CX_NO_BOOTSTRAP

(unset)

Set to any value to skip running cx bootstrap after install

Examples#

Install a specific version:

CX_VERSION=0.1.3 curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | sh

Install to a custom directory without bootstrap:

CX_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/bin CX_NO_BOOTSTRAP=1 curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | sh

PowerShell with options:

$Env:CX_VERSION = "0.1.3"; irm https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.ps1 | iex

The PowerShell script also accepts named parameters when invoked directly:

.\get-cx.ps1 -Version 0.1.3 -InstallDir C:\tools -NoBootstrap

Platform detection#

The shell script uses uname -s and uname -m to detect the platform. The PowerShell script uses .NET’s RuntimeInformation.OSArchitecture.

Detected

Target

Binary

Linux x86_64

x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

cx-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

Linux ARM64

aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

cx-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

macOS x86_64

x86_64-apple-darwin

cx-x86_64-apple-darwin

macOS ARM64

aarch64-apple-darwin

cx-aarch64-apple-darwin

Windows x86_64

x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

cx-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.exe

Shell profile updates#

The shell script appends a PATH export to your shell configuration file:

Shell

File

bash

~/.bashrc

zsh

~/.zshrc

fish

~/.config/fish/config.fish

The PowerShell script updates the user PATH in the Windows registry (HKCU:\Environment) and broadcasts a WM_SETTINGCHANGE message so running applications pick up the change.

Set CX_NO_PATH_UPDATE to skip this step if you prefer to manage your PATH manually.

Uninstalling#

The easiest way to uninstall is the built-in command:

cx uninstall

This removes the conda prefix (including all named environments), the cx binary, and any PATH entries added by the installer. It will show what will be removed and ask for confirmation (use --yes to skip).

See cx uninstall for full details.

Manual uninstall#

If the cx command is unavailable, you can remove everything manually:

  1. Delete the binary:

    rm ~/.local/bin/cx

  2. Remove the conda prefix:

    rm -rf ~/.cx

  3. Remove the PATH line from your shell profile if the installer added one.