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GitHub Backend

docs/dev-tools/backends/github.md

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GitHub Backend

You may install GitHub release assets directly using the github backend. This backend downloads release assets from GitHub repositories and is ideal for tools that distribute pre-built binaries through GitHub releases.

The code for this is inside of the mise repository at ./src/backend/github.rs.

Usage

The following installs the latest version of ripgrep from GitHub releases and sets it as the active version on PATH:

sh
$ mise use -g github:BurntSushi/ripgrep
$ rg --version
ripgrep 14.1.1

The version will be set in ~/.config/mise/config.toml with the following format:

toml
[tools]
"github:BurntSushi/ripgrep" = "latest"

Tool Options

The following tool-options are available for the github backend—these go in [tools] in mise.toml.

Asset Autodetection

When no asset_pattern is specified, mise automatically selects the best asset for your platform. The system scores assets based on:

  • OS compatibility (linux, macos, windows)
  • Architecture compatibility (x64, arm64, x86, arm)
  • Libc variant (gnu or musl for Linux, msvc for Windows)
  • Archive format preference (tar.gz, zip, etc.)
  • Build type (avoids debug/test builds)

For most tools, you can simply install without specifying patterns:

sh
mise install github:user/repo

::: tip The autodetection logic is implemented in src/backend/asset_matcher.rs, which is shared by both the GitHub and GitLab backends. :::

asset_pattern

Specifies the pattern to match against release asset names. This is useful when there are multiple assets for your OS/arch combination or when you need to override autodetection.

toml
[tools]
"github:cli/cli" = { version = "latest", asset_pattern = "gh_*_linux_x64.tar.gz" }

version_prefix

Specifies a custom version prefix for release tags. By default, mise handles the common v prefix (e.g., v1.0.0), but some repositories use different prefixes like release-, version-, or no prefix at all.

When version_prefix is configured, mise will:

  • Filter available versions with the prefix and strip it
  • Add the prefix when searching for releases
  • Try both prefixed and non-prefixed versions during installation
toml
[tools]
"github:user/repo" = { version = "latest", version_prefix = "release-" }

Examples:

  • With version_prefix = "release-":
    • User specifies 1.0.0 → mise searches for release-1.0.0 tag
    • Available versions show as 1.0.0 (prefix stripped)
  • With version_prefix = "" (empty string):
    • User specifies 1.0.0 → mise searches for 1.0.0 tag (no prefix)
    • Useful for repositories that don't use any prefix

Platform-specific Asset Patterns

For different asset patterns per platform:

toml
[tools."github:cli/cli"]
version = "latest"

[tools."github:cli/cli".platforms]
linux-x64 = { asset_pattern = "gh_*_linux_x64.tar.gz" }
macos-arm64 = { asset_pattern = "gh_*_macOS_arm64.tar.gz" }

Multiple Assets from the Same Release

The GitHub backend installs one release asset for each tool. If a repository publishes multiple binaries as separate assets in the same release, define one tool alias per binary and point each alias at the same github:owner/repo backend. Then configure each aliased tool with its own asset_pattern.

toml
[tool_alias]
tool-a = "github:owner/repo"
tool-b = "github:owner/repo"

[tools.tool-a]
version = "latest"
asset_pattern = "tool-a-*"

[tools.tool-b]
version = "latest"
asset_pattern = "tool-b-*"

checksum

Verify the downloaded file with a checksum:

toml
[tools."github:owner/repo"]
version = "1.0.0"
asset_pattern = "tool-1.0.0-x64.tar.gz"
checksum = "sha256:a1b2c3d4e5f6789..."

Instead of specifying the checksum here, you can use mise.lock to manage checksums.

Platform-specific Checksums

toml
[tools."github:cli/cli"]
version = "latest"

[tools."github:cli/cli".platforms]
linux-x64 = {
  asset_pattern = "gh_*_linux_x64.tar.gz",
  checksum = "sha256:a1b2c3d4e5f6789...",
}
macos-arm64 = {
  asset_pattern = "gh_*_macOS_arm64.tar.gz",
  checksum = "sha256:b2c3d4e5f6789...",
}

size

Verify the downloaded asset size:

toml
[tools]
"github:cli/cli" = { version = "latest", size = "12345678" }

strip_components

Number of directory components to strip when extracting archives:

toml
[tools]
"github:cli/cli" = { version = "latest", strip_components = 1 }

::: info If strip_components is not explicitly set, mise will automatically detect when to apply strip_components = 1. This happens when the extracted archive contains exactly one directory at the root level and no files. This is common with tools like ripgrep that package their binaries in a versioned directory (e.g., ripgrep-14.1.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/rg). The auto-detection ensures the binary is placed directly in the install path where mise expects it. :::

bin

Rename the downloaded binary to a specific name. This is useful when downloading single binaries that have platform-specific names:

toml
[tools."github:docker/compose"]
version = "2.29.1"
bin = "docker-compose"  # Rename the downloaded binary to docker-compose

::: info When downloading single binaries (not archives), mise automatically removes OS/arch suffixes from the filename. For example, docker-compose-linux-x86_64 becomes docker-compose automatically. Use the bin option only when you need a specific custom name. :::

rename_exe

Rename the executable after extraction from an archive. This is useful when the archive contains a binary with a platform-specific name that you want to rename:

toml
[tools."github:yt-dlp/yt-dlp"]
version = "latest"
asset_pattern = "yt-dlp_linux.zip"
rename_exe = "yt-dlp"  # Rename the extracted binary to yt-dlp

::: tip Use rename_exe for archives where the binary inside has a different name than desired. Use bin for single binary downloads (non-archives). :::

no_app

Skip macOS .app bundle assets during autodetection and prefer standalone CLI binaries instead. This is useful when a repository provides both a macOS .app bundle (often an Xcode extension or GUI application) and a standalone command-line tool:

toml
[tools."github:nicklockwood/SwiftFormat"]
version = "latest"
rename_exe = "swiftformat"
no_app = true  # Skip SwiftFormat.for.Xcode.app.zip, use swiftformat.zip instead

When no_app = true:

  • Assets containing .app. (e.g., Tool.app.zip, Tool.for.Xcode.app.zip) are penalized during autodetection
  • Standalone archives (e.g., tool.zip, tool-macos.tar.gz) are preferred
  • This is mainly useful for macOS asset selection; non-macOS .app. assets are already penalized by platform matching
  • Only affects autodetection; explicit asset_pattern values are used as-is

::: info Without this option, mise's autodetection might select .app bundles on macOS, which can be problematic if the bundle contains a GUI application or Xcode extension rather than a standalone CLI tool. :::

bin_path

::: v-pre Specify the directory containing binaries within the extracted archive, or where to place the downloaded file. This supports Tera templating with variables like {{ version }}, {{ os }}, {{ arch }}, and arch aliases ({{ darwin_os }}, {{ amd64_arch }}, {{ x86_64_arch }}, {{ gnu_arch }}): :::

toml
[tools."github:cli/cli"]
version = "latest"
bin_path = "cli-{{ version }}/bin" # expands to cli-1.0.0/bin

Binary path lookup order:

  1. If bin_path is specified, use that directory
  2. If bin_path is not set, look for a bin/ directory in the install path
  3. If the install path root contains an executable file, use the install path root
  4. If no bin/ directory exists, search subdirectories for bin/ directories
  5. If no bin/ directories are found, searches immediate subdirectories for any executable files. If an executable is found directly within a subdirectory, that entire subdirectory is considered a binary path.
  6. If no executables are found, use the root of the extracted directory

filter_bins

Comma-separated list of binaries to symlink into a filtered .mise-bins directory. This is useful when the tool comes with extra binaries that you do not want to expose on PATH.

toml
[tools]
"github:jgm/pandoc" = { version = "latest", filter_bins = "pandoc" }

When enabled:

  • A .mise-bins subdirectory is created with symlinks only to the specified binaries
  • Other binaries (like pandoc-lua or pandoc-server) are not exposed on PATH

api_url

For GitHub Enterprise or self-hosted GitHub instances, specify the API URL. mise uses this URL for release listing and release asset lookup, and may also use it to download assets when browser download URLs are not reachable or when using custom/private instances:

toml
[tools]
"github:myorg/mytool" = { version = "latest", api_url = "https://github.mycompany.com/api/v3" }

prerelease

By default, releases flagged prerelease: true on GitHub are excluded from mise ls-remote and from latest resolution. Set prerelease = true to include them:

toml
[tools]
"github:myorg/mytool" = { version = "latest", prerelease = true }

When set:

  • Pre-release tags (e.g. v1.0.0-rc1, v0.1.2-dev.86) appear in mise ls-remote.
  • latest resolves to the newest version across stable and pre-releases, rather than taking the GitHub /releases/latest shortcut (which returns whichever release the repo owner has marked as "Latest" — usually the newest non-prerelease, but it can be any release they've pinned via the API).
  • Fuzzy version queries (e.g. 1.2) match pre-release tags under that prefix.

Useful for repositories whose active releases are all pre-releases (e.g. internal tools shipping continuous dev builds), or when you need to track a project's release candidates. Draft releases are always excluded. Has no effect on GitLab.

Self-hosted GitHub

If you are using a self-hosted GitHub instance, set the api_url tool option. For authentication, see GitHub Tokens.

Supported GitHub Syntax

  • GitHub shorthand for latest release version: github:cli/cli
  • GitHub shorthand for specific release version: github:cli/[email protected]

Settings

<script setup> import Settings from '/components/settings.vue'; </script> <Settings child="github" :level="3" />