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pitboard is a command line for macOS and Linux, and a menu bar app for macOS. The app includes the command line, so install one or the other.

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What you need

  • For the command line: macOS on Apple silicon or Intel, or Linux on x86_64 or aarch64.
  • For the app: macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.
  • Claude Code or OpenAI’s Codex CLI, installed and signed in to one of your accounts.
For what Codex needs, see Use pitboard with Codex. Linux builds are static, so one file runs on any distribution. Windows is not supported: Claude Code keeps its login differently there, and pitboard has not been written for it. pitboard is pre-release. macOS is tested. On Linux, pitboard builds and its tests pass. It has not been run with a real signed-in Claude Code or Codex.

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Install with Homebrew

The pitboard cask installs the command line with its man page and its completions for bash, zsh and fish. The pitboard-app cask installs the app and puts the app’s command line on your PATH, with the same man page and completions. Homebrew refuses to install one while the other is installed, because both put pitboard on your PATH. To check the command line, run pitboard --version. The app has no Dock icon, only pitboard’s item in the menu bar.

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Install without Homebrew

Without Homebrew, install pitboard with Cargo, from a release file or from source.

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Fetch the release build with Cargo

cargo-binstall downloads pitboard’s own release build for your machine. Install it first, then run:

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Download a release file

The latest release has these files, where <version> is the release’s version: Each tarball holds pitboard, its man page pitboard.1, completions for bash, zsh and fish, and LICENSE, NOTICE and README.md. Unpack it and copy pitboard to a directory on your PATH. For the app, move Pitboard.app to your Applications folder before you open it. Until then, macOS runs it from a temporary copy, where the app cannot turn on daily renewal or put its command line on your PATH. To check a file before you run it, see Verify a download.

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Build from source

Building pitboard from crates.io needs Rust 1.91 or later and a C compiler.
Without --locked, Cargo ignores the Cargo.lock pitboard was released with and may pick newer dependencies. Neither Cargo route installs the man page or the completions. pitboard manpage and pitboard completions print them; see Integration commands. To build the app, you need Xcode and Rust. In a clone of pitboard’s repository, run:
An app you build does not update itself, because it carries no update key. For working on the app and running its tests, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

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Add the app’s command line to your PATH

The pitboard-app cask does this for you. Without the cask, Settings can do it when no other pitboard is installed:
  1. Click pitboard’s item in the menu bar, choose Settings, then click Command Line.
  2. Click Install Command Line Tool, and enter an administrator’s password when macOS asks. The In your terminal row shows /usr/local/bin/pitboard.
That path is a link to Pitboard.app/Contents/Helpers/pitboard, so the command line updates with the app. With another pitboard installed, the tab shows its path and no button.

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Update pitboard

For the app’s update settings, see Settings. The app and a command line installed apart from it update separately, so keep them at the same version. An older pitboard stops with an error saying a file was written by a newer pitboard. Update the older one the way you installed it. Next, add your accounts: follow the Quickstart from its second step, or in the app, see Add and manage accounts.