Install Beans

Beans ships as one tool, beansc. There is a one-line installer for each platform. It needs no admin rights and installs under your home directory.

One-line install

macOS and Linux

curl -fsSL https://github.com/beans-lang/beans/releases/latest/download/beans-install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://github.com/beans-lang/beans/releases/latest/download/beans-install.ps1 | iex

Then open a new terminal (so the updated PATH is picked up) and check it:

beansc --version
beansc doctor

What the installer does

The installer:

detects your OS, CPU, and C library (libc),
picks the right package for your machine,
verifies its SHA-256 checksum before unpacking,
installs under your home directory, with no sudo or admin needed, and
adds the bin directory to your PATH.

Re-running the installer is safe. If a download fails, an existing install is left untouched.

Where it installs

Default locations:

Platform	Default location
macOS / Linux	`$HOME/.beans`
Windows	`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Beans`

Override the location with the BEANS_HOME environment variable or the --prefix option.

Inside the install directory you get:

bin/         the beansc launcher, the compiler, and the runtime C sources
lib/std/     the standard library
lib/encoding/  the std.encoding bridge and its vendored sources
libexec/     the checked installer used by `beansc upgrade`
toolchain/   bundled Clang, LLD, and llvm-ar (full packages only)
VERSION      the installed version

The layout is stable, and you can move the whole directory after installing — every path inside is resolved relative to the launcher.

Full vs slim packages

The installer picks one of two package kinds for you:

Full packages bundle Clang, LLD, and llvm-ar, so native builds need no extra tools. They ship for Linux x86-64 and ARM64 (GNU), and Windows x64, ARM64, and x86 (LLVM-MinGW).
Slim packages ship everywhere else. With a slim package, --version, doctor, check, run, llvm, and build --emit ir all work with nothing to install. A native build needs a C compiler (Clang) on your PATH.

Two platform notes:

macOS: native builds need Apple’s Command Line Tools. Install them with xcode-select --install. check and run work without them.
Git is only needed if you pull in Git package dependencies.

The C++ bootstrap compiler, beansc0, is never installed. You do not need it.

Choosing a version, location, or target

Pass options to the installer after -s --:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/beans-lang/beans/releases/latest/download/beans-install.sh | sh -s -- --version 0.1.18 --prefix /opt/beans

Pick a specific build target with the BEANS_TARGET environment variable:

BEANS_TARGET=x86_64-unknown-linux-musl curl -fsSL https://github.com/beans-lang/beans/releases/latest/download/beans-install.sh | sh

Other installer options:

--force: reinstall even if a version is already present.
--no-modify-path: install without touching your PATH.
--help: list every option.

Uninstalling

There is no uninstaller. Delete the install directory and remove the PATH line the installer added.

Installing from source

If you would rather build the compiler yourself:

Install a release compiler first (with the one-liner above). You need a working beansc to build the self-hosted one.
Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/beans-lang/beans.git
cd beans
make
./build/beansc --version

With Beans installed, verify the install and then write your first program. To move to a newer release later, see Upgrade beansc.