Installation.md

August 16, 2026 · View on GitHub

Installation

[[Basalt]] is available to install via Homebrew, Cargo, aqua and as pre-compiled binaries from GitHub releases.

Homebrew

brew install erikjuhani/tap/basalt

Cargo

cargo install basalt-tui

aqua

aqua g -i erikjuhani/basalt

Pre-compiled binaries

Download the appropriate archive for your system and architecture from GitHub releases, extract it and move the basalt binary to a location in your PATH.

Nightly builds

Nightly builds track the latest main commit. They are unstable and meant for testing. The nightly release always holds the newest build. A downloaded nightly binary reports a -nightly suffix in basalt --version. A build from source reports the commit hash instead.

Homebrew

Build the latest main from source:

brew install --HEAD erikjuhani/tap/basalt

Cargo

Build the latest main from source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/erikjuhani/basalt --branch main basalt-tui

Pre-compiled nightly binaries

Download the archive for your system and architecture from the nightly release, extract it and move the basalt binary to a location in your PATH.

Starting Basalt

Once installed, launch basalt from your terminal:

basalt

[[Basalt]] opens in the splash screen, showing a list of your Obsidian vaults discovered automatically from Obsidian's configuration. Use j/k or arrow keys to navigate and Enter to open a vault.

![[vault-selector.gif]]

Once inside a vault, the interface is divided into three panes:

  • [[Explorer]] on the left — browse folders and notes
  • [[Note editor]] in the center — view the selected note with rendered markdown
  • [[Outline]] on the right — navigate headings in the current note

Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move focus between panes. The status bar at the bottom shows which pane is active.

Opening a note

In the [[Explorer]], use j/k or arrow keys to move through the file list. Press Enter to open a note in the [[Note editor]].

Switching vaults

Press Space then v to open the vault selector and switch to a different vault.

Getting help

Press ? to open the help modal. It shows the available key mappings for the currently active pane.

For more on the interface, see [[User interface]].