Installation

September 3, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

ani-cli-rs can be installed directly via Cargo from crates.io, downloaded as prebuilt binaries from GitHub Releases, or built from source.

Prebuilt assets are provided for Windows x64 and Linux x86-64. Linux ARM64, tested macOS, and tested Termux users build from source or install via Cargo.

Cargo (crates.io)

As a CLI Binary

To globally install the executable:

cargo install ani-cli-rs

Note: Ensure Cargo's binary directory (~/.cargo/bin or %USERPROFILE%\.cargo\bin) is in your system's PATH.

As a Library

To add ani-cli-rs to your own Rust project:

cargo add ani-cli-rs

Or add it to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
ani-cli-rs = "0.9.6"

Windows

Portable installation

Open PowerShell and run:

Invoke-WebRequest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs/master/scripts/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
.\install.ps1
Remove-Item .\install.ps1

The installer:

  1. reads the latest GitHub release;
  2. downloads the x64 Windows ZIP and its .sha256 file;
  3. verifies SHA-256 using .NET cryptography, including on older PowerShell versions without Get-FileHash;
  4. installs ani-cli-rs.exe to %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin by default;
  5. adds that directory to the user PATH unless -NoPathUpdate is supplied.

Open a new terminal after installation so it receives the updated user PATH.

Custom directory:

.\install.ps1 -InstallDirectory "D:\Tools\bin"

Skip the PATH update:

.\install.ps1 -NoPathUpdate

Inno Setup wizard

If the release contains the setup asset:

.\install.ps1 -UseSetup

This launches a per-user installer with an uninstall entry. It does not require administrator privileges. The portable and Setup installations use different installation management, so use the matching uninstall method.

Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs/master/scripts/install.sh -o install.sh
sh install.sh
rm install.sh

The script installs the official Linux x86-64 archive, verifies its published SHA-256 checksum, installs to $HOME/.local/bin by default, and adds that directory to $HOME/.profile when needed. On Linux ARM64 it exits with source-build instructions because no official ARM64 asset is published.

Custom locations:

ANI_CLI_RS_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/bin" ANI_CLI_RS_PROFILE="$HOME/.bashrc" sh install.sh

Official Linux archives use musl so one release can work across common distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Fedora, and Alpine. Kernel and CPU architecture compatibility still apply.

Linux ARM64

Linux ARM64 is source-buildable but is not device-tested by the maintainer and has no official release archive:

git clone https://github.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs.git
cd ani-cli-rs
cargo build --release --locked

The local cargo release-linux-arm64 alias is intended for contributors with a suitable cross-linker or ARM64 build environment; its existence does not indicate an official binary.

macOS

No official macOS release assets are provided. The source build and automatic IINA selection have been tested. Install the Rust toolchain and build locally:

git clone https://github.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs.git
cd ani-cli-rs
cargo build --release --locked

The binary is placed at target/release/ani-cli-rs. Copy it to a directory on your PATH if desired.

IINA is the default player on macOS. Install it with brew install --cask iina and ensure its iina command is on PATH.

Android with Termux

Termux source builds are tested, but no Android release binary is published. Install a current Termux build from a trusted source, then run:

pkg update
pkg install rust
git clone https://github.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs.git
cd ani-cli-rs
cargo build --release --locked
install -Dm755 target/release/ani-cli-rs "$PREFIX/bin/ani-cli-rs"

Install an Android HLS-capable video player such as mpv-android or VLC. Do not use pkg install vlc for this integration: that installs a terminal VLC build rather than the Android application.

Run ani-cli-rs "title" to request mpv-android or ani-cli-rs --vlc "title" to request Android VLC. ani-cli-rs searches for termux-am-starter, termux-am, and am, in that order. If the explicit activity bridge is incompatible with the installed Termux app, it falls back to termux-open with the stream's media type, then termux-open-url. On this fallback path Android's chosen/default media handler takes precedence, so --vlc cannot guarantee VLC. ANI_CLI_PLAYER can override the activity-launcher executable if a device requires a different path.

Build from source on any supported platform

Install a current stable Rust toolchain, then:

git clone https://github.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs.git
cd ani-cli-rs
cargo build --release --locked

Windows output: target\release\ani-cli-rs.exe

Unix output: target/release/ani-cli-rs

Rust edition 2024 requires a recent toolchain. If Cargo says the edition2024 feature is unavailable, update through rustup and verify that the rustup binaries appear before a distribution-installed /usr/bin/cargo in PATH.

Uninstall

Cargo

cargo uninstall ani-cli-rs

Portable Windows

Invoke-WebRequest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs/master/scripts/uninstall.ps1 -OutFile uninstall.ps1
.\uninstall.ps1
Remove-Item .\uninstall.ps1

Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vorlie/ani-cli-rs/master/scripts/uninstall.sh -o uninstall.sh
sh uninstall.sh
rm uninstall.sh

For an Inno Setup installation, use Windows Installed Apps or the generated uninstaller.

Verify the installation

ani-cli-rs --version
ani-cli-rs --help

If the command is not found, see Troubleshooting: installed but not found.