crux-install

name	crux-install
description	Make the crux command available, installing it only if it is missing. Use when another skill reports that `crux` is not on PATH, or when the user asks to install, update or upgrade the ideamans CrUX CLI. Prefers an already-installed binary, then the latest GitHub release, then a build from source with go install.
license	MIT
compatibility	Requires curl (or wget) and tar to install from a release, or a Go toolchain for the source fallback. Standalone — does not need crux to be present already. Installs from the public repository github.com/ideamans/crux-cli, so no GitHub authentication is needed.
allowed-tools	Bash(curl:*) Bash(wget:*) Bash(tar:*) Bash(unzip:*) Bash(go:*) Bash(uname:*) Bash(command:*) Bash(which:*) Bash(mkdir:*) Bash(mv:*) Bash(cp:*) Bash(rm:*) Bash(chmod:*) Bash(ls:*) Bash(test:*) Bash(echo:*) Read

crux-install

Make the crux command usable, doing the least work that achieves it.

Route 1 — an existing installation on PATH

command -v crux && crux --version

If that resolves, use it and stop here. Do not check for a newer release — it costs an API call and the user did not ask for an upgrade.

Two checks before trusting the hit:

• It is the right tool. crux is a short, generic name. crux llm | head -1 must read # crux — reference for AI agents. If something else owns the name, tell the user and use an explicit path rather than shadowing theirs.
• It is recent enough. If crux llm is not a known command, the binary predates the embedded reference. Say so and continue to route 2 to upgrade it.

Continue past this section only when the command is missing, is the wrong tool, is too old, or the user explicitly asked to update.

Route 2 — the latest GitHub release

The repository is public, so no authentication is needed.

VERSION=$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/ideamans/crux-cli/releases/latest \
  | grep '"tag_name"' | head -1 | cut -d'"' -f4)   # e.g. v0.5.0

The archive is named after the goreleaser project, not the repository — crux, without the -cli suffix:

crux_<version-without-v>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz

<os> is darwin, linux or windows (lowercase); <arch> is amd64 or arm64, so uname -m reporting x86_64 maps to amd64. Windows ships a .zip.

OS=$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')            # darwin | linux
ARCH=$(uname -m); [ "$ARCH" = "x86_64" ] && ARCH=amd64  # amd64 | arm64
curl -fsSL -o /tmp/crux.tar.gz \
  "https://github.com/ideamans/crux-cli/releases/download/${VERSION}/crux_${VERSION#v}_${OS}_${ARCH}.tar.gz"

If the download 404s, list the actual assets on the release page rather than retrying variations.

Install onto PATH

tar -xzf /tmp/crux.tar.gz -C /tmp
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && mv /tmp/crux ~/.local/bin/ && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/crux

Prefer the first writable directory already on PATH — ~/.local/bin, then /usr/local/bin. Two things not to do on your own initiative:

• If nothing on PATH is writable, leave the binary in /tmp, print the exact sudo mv command and let the user run it. Do not run sudo yourself.
• If ~/.local/bin is not on PATH, give the user the line to add to their shell profile. Do not edit the profile for them.

Route 3 — build from source

Needs a Go toolchain and compiles rather than downloads, so it is the last resort. Note the /cmd/crux suffix; installing the module root would not build anything.

go install github.com/ideamans/crux-cli/cmd/crux@latest

The binary lands in $(go env GOPATH)/bin and is named crux.

Verify

crux --version
crux llm | head -5
crux auth status

Report which route was taken, the version and the install path.

Then say what is still needed. crux cannot query anything without credentials, and which ones depend on the subcommand: history and record need a free CrUX API key (crux auth set-api-key), while device needs Google Cloud ADC and a billing project because it queries BigQuery at the user's expense. Point them at whichever matches what they want to do rather than setting up both.