01 Installation

Installation

nitpik is a single binary with no runtime dependencies. Install it once and you're ready to review.

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Install Script (Recommended)

The install script detects your platform, downloads the latest release, verifies the SHA256 checksum, and installs the binary:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nsrosenqvist/nitpik/main/install.sh | bash

Options:

# Install to a custom directory (default: /usr/local/bin)
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nsrosenqvist/nitpik/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --dir ~/.local/bin

# Install a specific version
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nsrosenqvist/nitpik/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --version v0.3.0

You can also set NITPIK_INSTALL_DIR and NITPIK_VERSION as environment variables.

Verify the installation:

nitpik --version

Homebrew (macOS and Linux)

brew tap nsrosenqvist/nitpik
brew install nitpik

Update with:

brew update && brew upgrade nitpik

Pre-built Binary (Manual)

Alternatively, download a release archive directly from the GitHub Releases page and place it on your PATH.

Build from Source

If you have a Rust toolchain installed:

cargo install --path .

This compiles an optimized release binary and places it in ~/.cargo/bin/.

Docker

The official Docker image ships with git and the nitpik binary, ready for CI pipelines:

docker pull ghcr.io/nsrosenqvist/nitpik:latest

Run a review by mounting your repository:

docker run --rm \
  -v "$(pwd)":/repo \
  -e NITPIK_PROVIDER=anthropic \
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY \
  ghcr.io/nsrosenqvist/nitpik:latest review --diff-base main

Docker vs Native

	Native binary	Docker
Startup	Instant	Container overhead (~1-2s)
Self-update	nitpik update	Rebuild/re-pull the image
CI isolation	Runs in host environment	Fully isolated
Best for	Local development, simple CI	CI pipelines, reproducible environments

Tip: In CI, prefer Docker for isolation and reproducibility. For local development, the native binary is faster and supports nitpik update.

Self-Update

nitpik can update itself to the latest GitHub release:

nitpik update             # update to latest (skips if already current)
nitpik update --force     # re-download even if on latest

The update downloads the release archive for your platform, verifies its SHA256 checksum, and atomically replaces the running binary.

If installed in a system directory (e.g. /usr/local/bin), you may need sudo:

sudo nitpik update

Note: In Docker containers and CI, nitpik warns you to rebuild the image or pin a version instead of self-updating.

System Requirements

• Git — required for --diff-base mode. Not needed for --scan, --diff-file, or --diff-stdin.
• Network access — nitpik calls your configured LLM provider's API. No other network access is required (telemetry is optional and can be disabled).

Related Pages

• Quick Start — run your first review
• LLM Providers — connect an API key
• CI/CD Integration — set up nitpik in your pipeline