Prerequisites and installation

Choose the tools for the workflow you need. Browser profiling does not require installing the native profiler.

Install the Vapour CLI

Install the released CLI. You do not need to clone or build the repository.

Option 1: install script (macOS and Linux)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vapour-computer/vapour-cli/main/install.sh | sh
vapour --version

The script supports amd64 and arm64. It downloads the latest release from GitHub, verifies its checksum and installs vapour to /usr/local/bin, or to ~/.local/bin when /usr/local/bin is not writable. Make sure that directory is on your PATH.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vapour-computer/vapour-cli/main/install.sh | VAPOUR_VERSION=v0.1.1 sh

Option 2: go install

Needs Go 1.26 or newer.

go install github.com/vapour-computer/vapour-cli@latest

Go names the executable after the module, so this installs vapour-cli, not vapour, into $(go env GOPATH)/bin (usually ~/go/bin). Add that directory to your PATH, then add the short name the guides use:

export PATH="$(go env GOPATH)/bin:$PATH"
ln -sf "$(go env GOPATH)/bin/vapour-cli" "$(go env GOPATH)/bin/vapour"
vapour --version

A go install build reports its version as dev. Use the install script or a release archive if you need a release number in vapour --version.

Option 3: release archive (including Windows)

Download the archive for your system from the releases page. Archives exist for macOS, Linux and Windows on amd64 and arm64, with a checksums.txt file. Verify the checksum, unpack the archive and put vapour on your PATH.

Update

vapour update            # install the latest release over the running binary
vapour update --check    # only report whether a newer release exists
vapour update --version v0.1.1

vapour update verifies the checksum and is not available on Windows. Outside CI, the CLI checks for a new release at most once every 24 hours and prints vapour X.Y.Z is available (you have A.B.C). Run: vapour update. Set VAPOUR_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 to turn that check off.

Check it works

vapour --help
vapour login --token YOUR_TOKEN
vapour whoami

Create the token in your developer dashboard. See the CLI command reference for every command.

Missing commands? You have an old build

vapour --help in v0.1.1 lists build, completion, controller, create, llm, login, logout, perf, publish, store, template, test, update and whoami. If llm, test, perf, template, controller or update are missing, you have the older v0.1.0 binary. Reinstall and check the version:

go install github.com/vapour-computer/vapour-cli@v0.1.1
# or: the curl install script above

Some old binaries cannot run vapour update, so reinstall instead.

Print the guide for an AI assistant

vapour llm prints the whole curated Vapour developer guide (the same text as llm.txt) to standard output. Pipe it into your assistant, a file or your clipboard:

vapour llm                      # print the guide
vapour llm > vapour-guide.md    # save it
vapour llm --refresh            # fetch the newest copy
vapour llm --offline            # use the cache or the copy built into the CLI

It works without logging in. See Use this handbook with an AI assistant.

Optional shell completion (bash, zsh, fish or powershell):

vapour completion zsh --help

Browser package checkout

git clone --branch feat/browser-telemetry https://github.com/vapour-computer/vapour.git vapour-browser
cd vapour-browser/apps/web
npm ci
npm run typecheck:browser-telemetry
npm run test:browser-telemetry

This branch contains the collector package and guard checks. It does not contain the maintainer's unpublished web-auth/Docker integration, and it does not activate telemetry on page load.

Native build dependencies

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel clang libelf zlib bpf

Debian/Ubuntu package names vary by release; install a BPF-capable clang, build-essential, pkg-config, libelf-dev, zlib1g-dev, Linux UAPI headers and bpftool. Build as your normal user. Privileged capture is a separate action.

Continue with native profiling.