Install the Lore CLI

June 12, 2026 · View on GitHub

lore is the CLI for the Lore version control system. It handles the full workflow — from branching, merging, and shipping your work to more advanced tasks like sparse clones and offline commits — all from a single binary.

In this guide, you'll install lore, add it to your PATH, and set up shell completions so that you can effectively drive Lore, at full speed, directly from your terminal.

Prerequisites

  • If building from source:

Choose an install path

The two paths are mutually exclusive, and each one below is complete on its own — follow one top to bottom, and don't jump between them.

Install the prebuilt binary

Pick this path for a normal install from a published release.

  1. Run the installer.

    macOS / Linux

    curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EpicGames/lore/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

    Windows

    irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EpicGames/lore/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

    The installer downloads the binary for your platform and adds it to your PATH. Open a new terminal session for the PATH change to take effect.

Build from source and install

Pick this path to run a CLI built from your own checkout.

  1. Build the binary.

    From the Lore repository root:

    cargo build --release -p lore-client --bin lore

    The compiled binary lands at target/release/lore (target\release\lore.exe on Windows). The first build compiles from source and may take several minutes.

  2. Put lore on your PATH.

    Move the compiled binary into a directory on your PATH so you can run lore from any directory.

    macOS / Linux

    Using /usr/local/bin (no PATH changes needed):

    sudo cp target/release/lore /usr/local/bin/lore

    Using ~/bin instead (no sudo required):

    mkdir -p ~/bin
cp target/release/lore ~/bin/lore

    If you used ~/bin, add it to your PATH. For zsh (the default on macOS):

    echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

    For bash:

    echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

    Windows (PowerShell)

    Copy the executable into a directory you control, for example %USERPROFILE%\bin:

    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\bin"
Copy-Item target\release\lore.exe "$env:USERPROFILE\bin\lore.exe"

    Add that directory to your PATH:

    [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable(
  "Path",
  [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User") + ";$env:USERPROFILE\bin",
  "User"
)

    Open a new terminal afterward. An existing terminal won't reflect the PATH change.

Install shell completions (optional)

The lore completions command generates and installs shell completions for lore. Once installed, pressing Tab completes commands or lists possible matches when the input is ambiguous. To run it, pass the shell name and an optional output directory; omit the directory to print the script to standard output instead. Lore also supports fish and elvish through the same command.

zsh

lore completions zsh ~/.zsh/completions

Make sure the target directory is on your fpath, then restart your shell.

bash

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

Restart your shell to load the completions.

PowerShell

lore completions powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

To make completions persistent, add that line to your PowerShell profile.

Result

lore --version

Running this from any directory prints a lore <version> line. A source build derives its version from the repository checkout, so the exact string depends on the source tree you built from.

See also