Boot.dev CLI

This is the official command line tool for Boot.dev. It allows you to submit lessons and do other such nonsense.

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Table of Contents

• Installation
• 1. Install Go
• 2. Install the Boot.dev CLI
• 3. Login to the CLI
• Configuration
• Base URL for HTTP tests
• CLI colors
• Troubleshooting the Config
• Upgrading
• Troubleshooting Upgrading

Installation

1. Install Go

To use the Boot.dev CLI, you need an up-to-date Golang toolchain installed on your system.

Please note, the overwhelming majority of our courses that use this CLI are designed to be completed on Linux or macOS – or on Linux-in-Windows via WSL. If you're on Windows, usually what you'll want is to go into WSL and follow Linux installation instructions. However, we now have at least one course that is Windows-native. So there are also Windows/PowerShell installation instructions below. Just be aware of which platform you're actually using!

There are two main installation methods that we recommend:

Option 1 (Linux/WSL/macOS): The Webi installer is the simplest way for most people. Just run this in your terminal:

curl -sS https://webi.sh/golang | sh

Read the output of the command and follow any instructions.

Option 2 (any platform, including Windows/PowerShell): Use the official Golang installation instructions. On Windows, this means downloading and running a .msi installer package; the rest should be taken care of automatically.

After installing Golang, open a new shell session and run go version to make sure everything works. If it does, move on to step 2.

Optional troubleshooting:

• If you already had Go installed with Webi, you should be able to run the same Webi command to update it.
• If you already had a version of Go installed a different way, on Linux/macOS you can run which go to find out where it's installed, and (if needed) remove the old version manually. (In PowerShell on Windows, the equivalent is Get-Command go.)
• If you're getting a "command not found" error after installation, it's most likely because the directory containing the go program isn't in your PATH. You need to add the directory to your PATH by modifying your shell's configuration file. First, you need to know where the go command was installed. It might be in:
• ~/.local/opt/go/bin (Webi)
• /usr/local/go/bin (official installation)
• Somewhere else?

You can ensure that the program exists by attempting to run go using its full filepath. For example, if you think it's in ~/.local/opt/go/bin, you can run ~/.local/opt/go/bin/go version. If that works, then you just need to add ~/.local/opt/go/bin to your PATH and reload your shell:

sh # For Linux/WSL echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.local/opt/go/bin' >> ~/.bashrc # Next, reload your shell configuration source ~/.bashrc

sh # For macOS echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.local/opt/go/bin' >> ~/.zshrc # Next, reload your shell configuration source ~/.zshrc

sh # For fish fish_add_path $HOME/.local/opt/go/bin

2. Install the Boot.dev CLI

The following command will download, build, and install the bootdev command into your Go toolchain's bin directory. Go ahead and run it:

go install github.com/bootdotdev/bootdev@latest

Run bootdev --version on your command line to make sure the installation worked. If it did, move on to step 3.

Optional troubleshooting:

If you're getting a "command not found" error for bootdev, it's likely because the directory containing the bootdev program isn't in your PATH. You need to add the directory to PATH by modifying your shell's configuration file. In most cases, this means adding $HOME/go/bin (the default GOBIN directory where go installs programs):

# For Linux/WSL
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
# Next, reload your shell configuration
source ~/.bashrc

# For macOS
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin' >> ~/.zshrc
# Next, reload your shell configuration
source ~/.zshrc

# For fish
fish_add_path $HOME/go/bin

3. Login to the CLI

Run bootdev login to authenticate with your Boot.dev account. After authenticating, you're ready to go!

Configuration

The Boot.dev CLI offers a couple of configuration options that are stored in a config file (default is ~/.bootdev.yaml, or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bootdev/config.yaml if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set).

All commands have -h/--help flags if you want to see available options on the command line.

Base URL for HTTP tests

For lessons with HTTP tests, you can configure the CLI with a base URL that overrides any lesson's default. A common use case for that is when you want to run your server on a port other than the one specified in the lesson.

• To set the base URL, run:

sh bootdev config base_url YOUR_URL

Make sure you include the protocol scheme (http://) in the URL.

• To get the current base URL (the default is an empty string), run:

sh bootdev config base_url

• To reset the base URL and revert to using the lessons' defaults, run:

sh bootdev config base_url --reset

CLI colors

The CLI text output is rendered with extra colors: green (e.g., success messages), red (e.g., error messages), and gray (e.g., secondary text).

• To customize these colors, run:

sh bootdev config colors --red VALUE --green VALUE --gray VALUE

You can use an ANSI color code or a hex string as the VALUE.

• To get the current colors, run:

sh bootdev config colors

• To reset the colors to their default values, run:

sh bootdev config colors --reset

Troubleshooting the Config

If you want to undo changes to your configuration, simply remove it to reset it completely. The CLI will automatically create a fresh config file in the original location. Then login again.

Upgrading

If you just installed the CLI, it's already upgraded!

The Boot.dev CLI is regularly updated to enhance and expand its features and integration with the web app.

The CLI automatically detects new versions and will require you to upgrade it before submitting or logging in.

To upgrade, run:

bootdev upgrade

or use go install with the latest tagged version:

go install github.com/bootdotdev/bootdev@v1.XX.X

Troubleshooting Upgrading

Bypass the proxy

If you keep getting the same upgrade message, you may be pulling from an old cache.

GOPROXY=direct go install github.com/bootdotdev/bootdev@v1.XX.X

Reinstall

If that doesn't work, try a fresh install:

1. Locate the binary file:

sh which bootdev

1. Carefully remove the binary file after confirming the path is correct:

sh rm "$(which bootdev)"

1. Confirm the binary is gone. It could be installed in multiple locations.

sh which bootdev

1. Clean install

Repeat the steps you used to install the CLI. See Installation. Then login again.