Installation

Chief is distributed as a single binary with no runtime dependencies. Choose your preferred installation method below.

Prerequisites

Chief needs an agent CLI: Claude Code (default), Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, or Gemini. Install at least one and authenticate.

Option A: Claude Code CLI (default)

Native install (recommended)

# macOS, Linux, WSL
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

Homebrew

brew install --cask claude-code

npm

# Requires Node.js 22+
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Then authenticate by running claude in a terminal and following the browser prompts (there is no claude login subcommand). Claude Code requires a Claude Pro/Max/Team/Enterprise or Console account — the free Claude.ai plan doesn't include access. See the official setup guide for Windows and other install methods.

Option B: Codex CLI

To use OpenAI Codex CLI instead of Claude:

1. Install Codex per the official reference.
2. Ensure codex is on your PATH, or set agent.cliPath in .chief/config.yaml (see Configuration).
3. Run Chief with chief --agent codex or set CHIEF_AGENT=codex, or set agent.provider: codex in .chief/config.yaml.

Option C: OpenCode CLI

To use OpenCode CLI as an alternative:

1. Install OpenCode per the official docs.
2. Ensure opencode is on your PATH, or set agent.cliPath in .chief/config.yaml (see Configuration).
3. Run Chief with chief --agent opencode or set CHIEF_AGENT=opencode, or set agent.provider: opencode in .chief/config.yaml.

Option D: Cursor CLI

To use Cursor CLI as the agent:

1. Install Cursor CLI per the official docs
2. Ensure agent is on your PATH, or set agent.cliPath in .chief/config.yaml.
3. Run agent login for authentication.
4. Run Chief with chief --agent cursor or set CHIEF_AGENT=cursor, or set agent.provider: cursor in .chief/config.yaml.

Option E: Gemini CLI

To use Gemini CLI as the agent:

1. Install Gemini CLI per the official docs.
2. Ensure gemini is on your PATH, or set agent.cliPath in .chief/config.yaml (see Configuration).
3. Run Chief with chief --agent gemini or set CHIEF_AGENT=gemini, or set agent.provider: gemini in .chief/config.yaml.

Optional: GitHub CLI (gh)

If you want Chief to automatically create pull requests when a PRD completes, install the GitHub CLI:

# macOS
brew install gh

# Linux
# See https://github.com/cli/cli/blob/trunk/docs/install_linux.md

# Authenticate
gh auth login

The gh CLI is only required for automatic PR creation. All other features work without it.

Homebrew (Recommended)

The easiest way to install Chief on macOS or Linux:

brew install ben182/chief/chief

This method:

• Automatically handles updates via brew upgrade
• Installs to /opt/homebrew/bin/chief (Apple Silicon) or /usr/local/bin/chief (Intel/Linux)
• Works on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Linux (x64 and ARM64)

Updating

brew upgrade chief

Install Script

Download and install with a single command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ben182/chief/main/install.sh | bash

The script automatically detects your platform, downloads the matching archive, verifies its checksum, and installs the binary to /usr/local/bin (or ~/.local/bin when it can't write there without sudo).

Script Options

Option	Description	Example
--version, -v	Install a specific version	--version v0.1.0
--help, -h	Show all available options	--help

To install into a custom directory, set the CHIEF_INSTALL_DIR environment variable (the script creates it if needed).

Examples:

# Install a specific version
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ben182/chief/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --version v0.1.0

# Install to a custom directory
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ben182/chief/main/install.sh | CHIEF_INSTALL_DIR=~/.local/bin bash

# Custom directory + specific version
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ben182/chief/main/install.sh | CHIEF_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/chief bash -s -- --version v0.1.0

Custom Directory

If you install to a custom directory, make sure it's in your PATH:

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

Add this to your shell profile (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.) to persist it.

Manual Binary Download

Releases are published as compressed archives (with a checksums.txt) on the GitHub Releases page. Each archive is named chief_<version>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz (Windows uses a .zip) and contains the chief binary plus the LICENSE and README.

Platform Matrix

Platform	Architecture	Archive Name	Notes
macOS	Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)	chief_<version>_darwin_arm64.tar.gz	Recommended for modern Macs
macOS	Intel (x64)	chief_<version>_darwin_amd64.tar.gz	For older Intel-based Macs
Linux	x64 (AMD64)	chief_<version>_linux_amd64.tar.gz	Most common Linux servers
Linux	ARM64	chief_<version>_linux_arm64.tar.gz	Raspberry Pi 4, AWS Graviton
Windows	x64 (AMD64)	chief_<version>_windows_amd64.zip	Extract and place chief.exe on your PATH

Installation Steps

The archive name embeds the version (e.g. chief_0.1.0_darwin_arm64.tar.gz), so pick your version and platform from the releases page. On macOS/Linux:

# Set the version and platform you want (see the releases page)
VERSION=0.1.0            # without the leading "v"
OS=darwin               # darwin or linux
ARCH=arm64              # arm64 or amd64

# Download and extract the archive
curl -LO "https://github.com/ben182/chief/releases/download/v${VERSION}/chief_${VERSION}_${OS}_${ARCH}.tar.gz"
tar -xzf "chief_${VERSION}_${OS}_${ARCH}.tar.gz"

# Move the binary to a directory in your PATH
sudo mv chief /usr/local/bin/chief

Detect Your Architecture

Not sure which binary you need? Run these commands:

# macOS
uname -m  # arm64 = Apple Silicon, x86_64 = Intel

# Linux
uname -m  # x86_64 = AMD64, aarch64 = ARM64

Building from Source

Build Chief from source if you want the latest development version or need to customize the build.

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24 or later (install Go)
• Git for cloning the repository

Build Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ben182/chief.git
cd chief

# Build the binary
go build -o chief ./cmd/chief

# Optionally install to your GOPATH/bin
go install ./cmd/chief

Build with Version Info

For a release-quality build with version information embedded:

go build -ldflags "-X main.Version=$(git describe --tags --always)" -o chief ./cmd/chief

Verify the Build

./chief --version

Verifying Installation

After installing via any method, verify Chief is working correctly:

# Check the version
chief --version

# View help
chief --help

# Check that your agent CLI is accessible (Claude default, or codex if configured)
claude --version
# or: codex --version

Expected output (example with Claude):

$ chief --version
chief version vX.Y.Z

$ claude --version
Claude Code vX.Y.Z

Troubleshooting

If chief is not found after installation:

1. Check that the installation directory is in your PATH
2. Open a new terminal window/tab to reload your shell
3. Run which chief to see if it's found and where

See the Troubleshooting Guide for more help.

Next Steps

Now that Chief is installed:

1. Quick Start Guide - Get running with your first PRD
2. How Chief Works - Understand the autonomous agent concept
3. CLI Reference - Explore all available commands