Installation

The installer sets up the ix CLI and everything it needs. All you need beforehand is a terminal with curl or wget.

macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://ix-infra.com/install.sh | sh

Windows

Install Node.js 22+ and Docker Desktop first, then run in PowerShell:

irm https://ix-infra.com/install.ps1 | iex

Intel Mac (Homebrew)

No pre-built package is published for Intel Macs. Homebrew builds Ix from source:

brew tap ix-infrastructure/ix https://github.com/ix-infrastructure/Ix
brew install ix

Pre-built CLI packages are published for Apple Silicon macOS, Linux (x86-64 and arm64) and Windows x86-64.

What the installer sets up

The installer checks for each of these and installs anything missing:

Component	Why Ix needs it
Node.js 22+	Runs the ix CLI
Git	Workspace detection
ripgrep	Powers ix text. Optional: a failed install only prints a warning
Docker + Docker Compose	Runs the local backend

The backend is two containers. Only the memory layer has a host port, and it binds to localhost:

• Ix Memory Layer, the HTTP API the CLI talks to, on 127.0.0.1:8090
• ArangoDB 3.12, the graph database, with no host port: only the memory layer reaches it, over the Compose network

Docker on Windows and first launch on macOS

On Windows, Docker Desktop isn’t installed automatically. Install it, then re-run the installer. On macOS, Docker Desktop’s first launch shows a license agreement. The installer detects this and waits up to five minutes for you to accept it.

Docker Hub rate limits

Docker Hub limits anonymous pulls to 100 per six hours per IP. If a pull fails, run docker login (free) and try again. The Ix Memory Layer image is published on GHCR, which has no such limit.

Verify the install

ix --version       # the CLI is on your PATH
ix status          # the backend is reachable
ix doctor          # server, database and graph integrity

If ix status reports Ix backend not reachable, start the backend with ix docker start. See Troubleshooting for other first-run problems.

Files and directories

Path	Contents
~/.ix/	Ix home directory. Override with $IX_HOME
~/.ix/config.yaml	CLI configuration
~/.ix/backend/	Docker Compose file for the local backend
~/.ix/cli/	Installed CLI and its dependencies
/usr/local/bin/ix or ~/.local/bin/ix	The ix wrapper, in whichever is writable

The complete list, including every network endpoint the installer contacts, is in docs/prerequisites.md.

Upgrading

ix upgrade --check   # see whether an update is available
ix upgrade           # upgrade the CLI, backend and components