che-cli

Installation

che-cli is a pure shell project. Installing it copies the dispatcher (bin/che) and the support tree (lib/che/) into a prefix, then makes sure that prefix is on your PATH.

Source: github.com/chevp/che-cli · Back to overview

Quick install — Linux / macOS / WSL

git clone https://github.com/chevp/che-cli.git
cd che-cli
./install.sh
che doctor

The default prefix is ~/.local, so the installer writes:

~/.local/bin/che — the dispatcher
~/.local/lib/che/ — the full support tree (provider clients, helpers)

If ~/.local/bin is not already on your $PATH, the installer appends an export PATH=... line to your shell rc — ~/.zshrc for zsh, or ~/.bash_profile (macOS) / ~/.bashrc (Linux) for bash. Open a new terminal afterwards (or source the file) to pick it up.

Quick install — Windows (PowerShell)

git clone https://github.com/chevp/che-cli.git
cd che-cli
.\install.ps1
# Restart your terminal, then:
che doctor

The default prefix is %LOCALAPPDATA%\che, so the installer writes:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\che\bin\che — the dispatcher
%LOCALAPPDATA%\che\lib\che\ — the full support tree

The installer adds %LOCALAPPDATA%\che\bin to your user PATH. Restart your PowerShell/terminal for the change to take effect.

Custom prefix

Unix-like (Bash)

PREFIX=/usr/local ./install.sh        # system-wide (needs sudo)
PREFIX="$HOME/tools/che" ./install.sh  # somewhere else entirely

Windows (PowerShell)

.\install.ps1 "C:\Program Files\che"
# or
$env:PREFIX = "C:\custom\path"; .\install.ps1

Anything that exists and is on your PATH works.

Opt out of PATH modification (Unix only)

If you manage your shell rc by hand (e.g. via dotfiles), set CHE_NO_PATH_EDIT=1 and the installer prints the export line instead of writing it.

CHE_NO_PATH_EDIT=1 ./install.sh

Requirements

Tool	Why
`bash`	every script targets bash, not POSIX `sh`
`git`	`che commit` / `che ship` operate on staged diffs
`curl`	provider clients speak HTTP
`python3`	request/response JSON shaping (or `python`)

Linux: apt install bash git curl python3 (or your distro’s equivalent).
macOS: All four ship with the OS or are available via Homebrew.
Windows: Use Git Bash or WSL for the Bash-based che commit / che ship tools. Windows PowerShell is supported for installation only; running che commands requires bash. Install Python via winget install Python.Python.3 if it isn’t already present.

Provider configuration

che defaults to a local Ollama server, so the zero-config path needs no API keys. For cloud LLMs, che only supports the official CLIs — auth stays inside the CLI you’ve installed, never in che’s environment.

Claude Code (cloud, via CLI)

Install the Claude Code CLI and log in once with claude itself; che shells out to that binary.

export CHE_PROVIDER=claude-code
che commit

To always escalate to Claude Code (instead of using the local provider as a fallback), set:

export CHE_FORCE_CLAUDE_CODE=1

GitHub Copilot (cloud, via CLI)

Install the GitHub Copilot CLI and sign in once with copilot itself; che shells out to that binary.

export CHE_PROVIDER=copilot
che commit

For the local Ollama setup itself, follow the companion guide: cura-llm-local — about five minutes from zero to a working llama3.2 server.

Verifying the install

che doctor          # full sweep
che doctor provider # only the active provider

If che doctor reports anything red, see troubleshooting.