CLI Tools Install

`ed tools install`

Installs one tool, or reports that it is already there.

Usage:

ed tools install <tool> [--json]

Arguments:

Name	Type / values	Default	What it does
`<tool>`	one of `yt-dlp`, `claude`, `codex`, or a display name: `yt-dlp`, `Claude Code`, `Codex`	required	Which tool to install. Matched case-insensitively against the id first, then against the display name.

Options:

Name	Type / values	Default	What it does
`--json`	flag	off	Emits one JSON document on stdout.

Matching is exact, not by prefix: CODEX and Claude Code both resolve, cla and ytdlp do not and exit 3 with the three ids as the hint. A display name with a space in it has to be quoted, or the shell hands ed a second positional and ArgumentParser rejects it with exit 2 before any id is looked up.

--json shape when the tool is already installed:

{
  "changed": false,
  "id": "yt-dlp",
  "installed": true,
  "path": "/Users/pulkit/Library/Application Support/Edith/bin/yt-dlp"
}

--json shape when it was missing and the install ran:

{
  "changed": true,
  "id": "yt-dlp",
  "installed": true,
  "version": "2026.07.04"
}

The two shapes are not the same object with different values. path exists only on the already-installed branch and version only on the branch that did the work, so branch on changed: installed is true in both, because a failed install prints no JSON at all, only the error and the hint on stderr.

Examples:

ed tools install yt-dlp
ed tools install codex --json
ed tools install "Claude Code"

A tool that is already present is reported and left alone. The line goes to stderr, so stdout stays empty and the exit code is 0:

$ ed tools install yt-dlp
yt-dlp is already at /Users/pulkit/Library/Application Support/Edith/bin/yt-dlp

A missing tool is fetched here, and the command stays until it has landed, printing each line the download or the package manager produces:

$ ed tools install yt-dlp

  EDITH · install yt-dlp
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  · Downloading https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos
  · #####################                                                    29.4%
  · ######################################################################## 100.0%
  · Saved /Users/pulkit/Library/Application Support/Edith/bin/yt-dlp
  · 2026.07.04
  ✓ yt-dlp is ready

installed yt-dlp (2026.07.04)

Only the last line is on stdout. The header, the · rows and the ✓ are the progress facility writing to stderr, and they are gone when stderr is not a terminal or --json is passed. An install that cannot finish says why and what to run instead:

$ ed tools install claude

  EDITH · install Claude Code
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  · env: brew: No such file or directory
  · Homebrew was not found, checking npm.
  · env: npm: No such file or directory
  ✖ Neither Homebrew nor npm is available for installing Claude Code.
error: Neither Homebrew nor npm is available for installing Claude Code.
hint: Install with `brew install --cask claude-code` or `npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code`.

An id that is not in the catalogue never reaches an install:

$ ed tools install ffmpeg
error: no tool called ffmpeg
hint: tools: yt-dlp, claude, codex

Behaviour: the presence check runs first, so an already-installed tool is reported and exits 0 without touching the network. Only the other branch does any work, and it does it here: ToolInstaller runs curl, chmod and a move for yt-dlp, or brew and then npm for the two agent CLIs, in this process. Nothing is posted at Edith and no part of it has to be running. Every line those commands print is echoed as a · row as it arrives, which for the curl progress bar is one row per redraw. When they finish, ed runs the tool's own --version through the assembled PATH to prove it landed: a tool that cannot be run there fails with Installation finished, but <name> could not be verified. however well the install itself went. Any failure exits 4 with the reason as the error and the tool's manual instruction as the hint, and writes nothing to stdout, --json included.