Installation

Quick Install

macOS/Linux

curl -sSfL https://bab.sh/install.sh | sh

Windows

iwr -useb https://bab.sh/install.ps1 | iex

Package Managers

Homebrew Cask (macOS/Linux)

brew tap bab-sh/tap
brew install --cask bab

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap bab-sh/tap
brew install bab

Chocolatey (Windows)

choco install bab

Scoop (Windows)

scoop bucket add bab-sh https://github.com/bab-sh/scoop-bucket
scoop install bab

Snapcraft (Linux)

snap install bab-sh

AUR (Arch Linux)

# Binary package (pre-built)
yay -S bab-bin

# Source package (builds from source)
yay -S bab

Nix (NixOS/Linux/macOS)

Available via NUR (Nix User Repository):

# flake.nix or configuration.nix — add NUR and the bab overlay
{
  inputs.nur.url = "github:nix-community/NUR";

  # Then in your packages:
  environment.systemPackages = [
    nur.repos.bab-sh.bab
  ];
}

Or install directly with nix profile:

nix profile install nur#repos.bab-sh.bab

Go

go install github.com/bab-sh/bab@latest

Go Tool (Go 1.24+)

Add bab as a project-local tool dependency:

go get -tool github.com/bab-sh/bab@latest

Then run via:

go tool bab [task]

This pins bab in your go.mod so all contributors use the same version.

Manual Download

Download the archive for your platform from GitHub Releases:

Platform	File
macOS (Intel)	bab_*_macOS_x86_64.tar.gz
macOS (Apple Silicon)	bab_*_macOS_arm64.tar.gz
macOS (Universal)	bab_*_macOS_universal.tar.gz
Linux (x64)	bab_*_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
Linux (ARM64)	bab_*_Linux_arm64.tar.gz
Linux (ARMv7)	bab_*_Linux_armv7.tar.gz
Windows (x64)	bab_*_Windows_x86_64.zip

Extract and move to your PATH:

tar -xzf bab_*.tar.gz
sudo mv bab /usr/local/bin/

Linux Packages

Debian/Ubuntu

sudo dpkg -i bab_*_amd64.deb

Fedora/RHEL

sudo rpm -i bab_*.x86_64.rpm

Alpine

sudo apk add --allow-untrusted bab_*.apk

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -U bab_*.pkg.tar.zst

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/bab-sh/bab.git
cd bab
go build -o bab
sudo mv bab /usr/local/bin/

Requires Go 1.25+.

Shell Completions

Bab supports bash, zsh, and fish completions. They are automatically installed with package managers.

For manual installation:

Bash

bab --completion bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/bab

Zsh

bab --completion zsh > ~/.local/share/zsh/site-functions/_bab

Fish

bab --completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/bab.fish