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Cortex CLI installs as a single binary. An install script fetches the release build for your platform from software.cortex.foundation, verifies its SHA-256 checksum against the release manifest, and only then writes anything to disk. There is nothing to configure afterwards: sign in and you have a working session view. This page covers the installers for macOS, Linux and Windows, what the checksum check does and does not prove, how to pin a version or a release channel, keeping the CLI current with cortex upgrade, building from source, and uninstalling.

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Install

This installs the binary into ~/.local/bin and puts a cortex command there. Add that directory to your PATH yourself if it is not already on it. The install script needs Python 3.8 or later.
If you would rather read the script before you run it, fetch it into a pager first:
Confirm the result:

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What the installer does, and refuses to do

Minimum operating system, kernel and libc versions are not published. The musl builds have audio disabled and must pass a static-link check, but that does not establish a supported floor for any platform.

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What the checksum check proves

The install script verifies the SHA-256 checksum of the archive against the release manifest before it writes anything, and cortex upgrade verifies it again before replacing a binary. The check happens for you; there is no separate command for verifying a download by hand.
Checksums detect corruption, not publisher identity. The SHA-256 values come from the same distribution origin as the archive, so a match tells you the download arrived intact, not who produced it. Checksums are not signatures. There is no release signing, notarization, provenance attestation, or software bill of materials behind these downloads, and nothing here should be read as one.

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Pin a version, or change the channel

Set these in the environment of the shell that runs the install script.

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Keep it current

The full flag set is -c/--check, --changelog, -f/--force, -y/--yes, --channel and --pre. Version pins follow SemVer ordering, including prereleases. From inside a session, /upgrade does the same thing, and the check_for_update_on_startup key in configuration controls the check at launch. An upgrade verifies SHA-256 before it replaces anything, keeps the previous binary beside the new one as a recovery copy, then runs the new binary’s --version with a deadline and bounded output. If that check fails, the previous binary is restored. A failed release lookup exits non-zero rather than reporting that you are already up to date.
If you installed through a package manager, cortex upgrade sends you back to that package manager instead of replacing the binary itself. Automatic replacement of a musl installation is also refused: use the install script above for those. Package-manager coverage varies by platform and is not documented here; the shell and PowerShell installers are the supported path.

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Build from source

This is contributor scope, not the supported way to install the CLI. Use the Rust toolchain version pinned in the repository.
Source and issues live at github.com/CortexLM/cli, licensed Apache-2.0.

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Uninstall

The full flag set is -c/--keep-config, -d/--keep-data, --dry-run, -f/--force, -y/--yes, --backup and -p/--purge. To see what would be deleted before you commit to it, check Data locations.