Aqua Backend

Aqua tools can be used natively in mise. aqua is a Tier 2 backend for tools without packslip manifests: it does not require plugins, it works on Windows, and it offers security features beyond checksums. Verification depends on the metadata provided for each package.

You do not need to install aqua separately. mise does not use the aqua CLI at all; it uses the aqua registry, which is compiled into the mise binary on release. Here is an example package entry: aqua:hashicorp/terraform. mise has its own reimplementation of aqua that reads these files to install tools.

By default, the bundled snapshot is used. The opt-in registry_floating setting checks the current official aqua registry first while retaining the bundled snapshot as a fallback. It also floats mise's shorthand registry; see Floating registries for the tradeoffs and cache behavior.

If an entry has incorrect platform names, URLs, or verification metadata, report it to the aqua registry or contribute a correction. A mise release contains a snapshot, so a fix upstream may require a newer mise release or a custom registry.

Aqua recipes primarily download and extract published artifacts. Tools that need custom installation steps or environment setup may require another backend.

The code for this backend is in the mise repository at ./src/backend/aqua.rs.

Custom Registry

Set aqua.registries to check custom aqua registry sources before the baked-in registry:

[settings]
aqua.registries = ["https://github.com/my-org/aqua-registry"]

To check multiple registries before the baked registry, list them in order:

[settings]
aqua.registries = [
  "https://github.com/my-org/internal-aqua-registry",
  "https://github.com/partner/aqua-registry",
]

Each source can be a repository URL, a direct URL to a registry.yaml or registry.yml file, or a local directory or registry file specified with an absolute file:// URL:

[settings]
aqua.registries = [
  "file:///absolute/path/to/aqua-registry",
  "file:///absolute/path/to/registry.yaml",
  "https://example.com/registry.yaml",
]

For repository and directory sources, mise loads registry.yaml from the source root, falling back to registry.yml if needed. Remote registry sources are cached under MISE_CACHE_DIR for aqua.registry_cache_ttl, which defaults to one week. Local file:// sources bypass the downloaded source cache, so changes are read the next time the registry is loaded. In MISE_AQUA_REGISTRIES, separate multiple registry URLs with commas.

After a refreshed registry source is downloaded, mise hashes the source and uses that hash in the compiled registry cache path. When a new compiled cache is successfully loaded or written, older compiled caches for the same registry URL are pruned.

Packages are resolved by checking the configured registries in order. When aqua.baked_registry is enabled, the baked-in registry remains a fallback for packages missing from all configured registries. Aqua registry aliases are local to the registry that defines them; use [tool_alias] when you want a mise shorthand or alias to point at an aqua package from another registry.

The legacy aqua.registry_url setting is still supported for a single registry URL, but aqua.registries takes precedence when both are set.

Usage

Install ripgrep in your project and verify the executable without requiring shell activation:

mise use aqua:BurntSushi/ripgrep
mise exec -- rg --version

This writes the following to mise.toml. Add -g to mise use for a global tool.

[tools]
"aqua:BurntSushi/ripgrep" = "latest"

Use mise ls-remote aqua:BurntSushi/ripgrep to inspect available versions. mise registry ripgrep shows the backends configured for its shorthand.

Tool Options

symlink_bins

Some tools bundle extra executables that you may not want exposed on PATH. For example, aws-cli bundles Python, which can conflict with your intended Python version.

Setting symlink_bins = true creates a filtered .mise-bins directory and exposes only the binaries intended for that aqua package, instead of every executable discovered in the install.

[tools]
aws-cli = { version = "latest", symlink_bins = true }

When enabled:

• If the aqua registry defines a files field, only those binaries are exposed (e.g., aws and aws_completer for aws-cli)
• Otherwise, mise falls back to exposing the inferred primary binary for the package
• A .mise-bins subdirectory is created with symlinks to the exposed binaries
• Bundled dependencies and other extra executables, such as Python in aws-cli, are not added to PATH

vars

Some aqua registry entries define template variables (for example <span v-pre>{{.Vars.channel}}</span>). Set them via tool options using either top-level keys or a nested vars table:

[tools]
"aqua:flutter/flutter" = { version = "3.32.8", channel = "stable" }
"aqua:scenarigo/scenarigo" = { version = "0.21.0", vars = { go_version = "1.24" } }

Vars with defaults are filled automatically. Vars marked as required in the aqua registry must be set unless the registry also provides a default.

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:

[tools]
"aqua:owner/tool" = { 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 against the full list including pre-releases, and fuzzy version queries match pre-release tags. The option has no effect when a package uses the github_tag version source (git tags don't carry a prerelease flag). Draft releases are always excluded. See the github backend docs for more detail.

Settings

Security Verification

<span id="github-artifact-attestations"></span> <span id="cosign-verification"></span> <span id="slsa-provenance-verification"></span> <span id="other-security-methods"></span> <span id="verification-process"></span>

mise implements checksum, GitHub artifact attestation, Cosign, SLSA, and Minisign verification natively. You do not need their separate CLI tools. Support in the backend does not mean that every package supplies all of these checks.

The corresponding aqua.* verification settings are enabled by default. Some checks also have a global setting, such as github_attestations or slsa. See Settings for the complete configuration.

A verified lockfile can reuse a previous provenance result while checking the artifact digest. Set locked_verify_provenance to require provenance verification again during locked installation.

Troubleshooting

Start with the failing command and its verification error:

MISE_DEBUG=1 mise install aqua:cli/cli

Check that the release publishes the expected signature or attestation, that the registry names the correct artifact and signer, and that your clock and network allow certificate and transparency-log verification. For private assets or API limits, check GitHub authentication.

A digest mismatch requires investigating the artifact or expected digest. A missing or invalid signature requires checking the publisher and registry metadata. Disabling verification changes which artifacts you trust; it does not repair either problem. Report the affected version, platform, and verifier error with credentials removed.

Common aqua issues

These problems usually require a correction to the package entry in the aqua registry.

Supported env missing

Compare the registry entry's supported_envs with the publisher's release assets. If a matching artifact exists but its platform is absent from the registry, update that entry. Adding a platform name alone cannot make an incompatible binary run.

Using version_filter instead of version_prefix

Use version_prefix to remove a known tag prefix from the versions shown to users, and version_filter to exclude unrelated releases. Preserve the publisher's meaningful version identifiers; a version does not need to be a three-part semantic version.

For example, an entry may use a version_filter expression like Version startsWith "atlascli/".

This causes the version to be atlascli/1.2.3, which is not what we want. The fix is to use version_prefix instead of version_filter and put the prefix (atlascli/ in this example) in the version_prefix field. mise automatically strips the prefix and adds it back when needed, which it can't do with version_filter.