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tonythethompson edited this page Jul 10, 2026 · 1 revision

Quick Start

Copy-paste path from install through first activation. Requires a Nushell binary on PATH for init, activate, and related commands.

# Install (pick one)
cargo install numan-cli
# or: download a release archive from GitHub Releases and add numan to PATH
# or: brew tap tonythethompson/numan && brew install numan

numan init
numan registry sync
numan search hooks
numan install owner/package-name
numan activate
numan doctor

Install is inert. Nothing is registered with Nu until you run numan activate.

After Nu upgrades, refresh cached paths and activation identity:

numan init --refresh

Optional: install shell completions. See Shell Completions.

Step by step

1. Initialize

Probe your local Nu installation and create Numan state under the default root (or --root):

numan init

numan init configures the official registry automatically and prints a numbered checklist when setup is incomplete.

2. Sync the registry

numan registry sync

Updates local index caches and verifies Ed25519 signatures.

3. Search and install

numan search hooks
numan info owner/package-name
numan install owner/package-name
numan list

The install transaction: resolve → download → verify (SHA256) → extract → lockfile write. No Nu interaction.

4. Activate with Nu

numan activate                    # activate all inactive packages
numan activate owner/package-name # activate specific packages
numan activate --list             # show activation status
numan activate --check            # verify activation integrity (read-only)

For modules:

numan deactivate owner/module-name

Activation is scoped to a Nu identity (executable hash, version, and registry paths). If those drift after a Nu upgrade, run numan init --refresh then re-activate.

5. Maintain installs

numan update --check              # see available upgrades
numan update                      # apply upgrades
numan remove owner/package-name
numan gc --dry-run                # preview orphaned payload dirs
numan gc                          # delete unreferenced payloads

Numan snapshots activation state before update, remove, activate, and deactivate:

numan snapshot list
numan snapshot inspect <id>
numan snapshot rollback <id>

See Snapshots and Rollback.

6. Verify health

numan doctor                      # report-only diagnosis
numan doctor --fix --yes          # apply safe automated repairs

See Doctor and the full CLI Reference.

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