Smith npm bootstrapper

Run Smith from npm without installing a platform binary first:

npx @forgeailab/smith

The package downloads the matching Smith GitHub release archive for macOS or Linux, verifies it against SHA256SUMS when available, caches it under ~/.smith/npx, and starts the smith binary. Linux always uses Smith's fully static musl archive, so the same package works on glibc and musl hosts. Explicitly named smith-<arch>-linux-gnu.tar.gz archives remain available for users who prefer an Ubuntu 22.04-baseline GNU build.

Useful commands:

npx @forgeailab/smith -p "explain this repo"   # one headless turn
npx @forgeailab/smith setup                     # guided provider/model setup
npx @forgeailab/smith --help

Installing a permanent smith command

--install copies the downloaded binary onto your PATH so later runs skip npm entirely. It writes to a user-owned directory, so it never needs sudo:

npx @forgeailab/smith --install                      # -> ~/.local/bin/smith
npx @forgeailab/smith --install --install-dir ~/bin  # somewhere else
SMITH_INSTALL_DIR=~/bin npx @forgeailab/smith --install
npx @forgeailab/smith --uninstall                    # remove it again

If the install directory is not on your PATH, the command prints the export PATH=... line to add to your shell profile.

By default, the wrapper downloads the GitHub release tag that matches the npm package version. For testing a different release:

npx @forgeailab/smith --release latest
SMITH_NPX_TAG=v0.1.0 npx @forgeailab/smith