Forge: Development Environment Orchestrator

Keep your tools sharp, and ship what matters

Forge orchestrates your development environment, working with native package managers to install and manage tools intelligently.

Installation

Install From GitHub Releases

macOS Install 🚀

# Install binary
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -L https://github.com/rana/forge/releases/latest/download/forge-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.xz | tar xJ
mv forge ~/.local/bin/

# Ensure PATH includes ~/.local/bin
grep -q 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' ~/.zshrc || echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

# Reload shell configuration
source ~/.zshrc

Linux Install 🚀

# Install binary
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -L https://github.com/rana/forge/releases/latest/download/forge-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz | tar xJ
mv forge ~/.local/bin/

# Ensure PATH includes ~/.local/bin
grep -q 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' ~/.bashrc || echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

# Reload shell configuration
source ~/.bashrc

Keep Forge Updated

forge install forge

What is Forge?

Forge knows how to install your tools—and more importantly, why they exist. It works with your existing package managers, not against them.

# Install a tool using the best available method
forge install ripgrep

# Install from any GitHub repo with releases
forge install uv

# Understand why it exists
forge why ripgrep

# Keep everything current
forge update

# See what you have
forge list

Commands

• forge install <tool> - Install a tool using the best available method
• forge uninstall <tool> - Remove an installed tool
• forge update [tool] - Update installed tools (all or specific)
• forge list - Show installed tools
• forge why <tool> - Explain why a tool exists
• forge fmt [file] - Format TOML files

Philosophy

Orchestrate, don't replace. Forge uses the right tool for the job—cargo for Rust, brew for macOS, apt for Linux, direct downloads from GitHub.

Knowledge drives everything. Every tool has a purpose. Forge maintains a knowledge base of what tools do and why they matter.

GitHub as a universal installer. Any tool with GitHub releases can be installed by Forge—no custom installer needed.

How It Works

Forge maintains just two files:

• forge.toml - The knowledge base of tools and how to install them
• ~/.forge/facts.toml - What you've actually installed

No complex state. No version locks. No environments. Just tools and knowledge.

Unique Features

Smart GitHub Installer: Forge can install from any GitHub repository with releases. It automatically:

• Discovers the right asset for your platform
• Extracts archives (tar.gz, tar.xz, zip)
• Handles raw binaries
• Places executables in ~/.local/bin

# Just specify the tool and repo
[tools.uv]
description = "An extremely fast Python package installer and resolver"
[tools.uv.installers.github]
repo = "astral-sh/uv"

Example

$ forge install bat
ℹ️ Installing bat...
⚡ Using brew installer
✅ bat v0.24.0 installed successfully!

$ forge install uv
ℹ️ Installing uv...
⚡ Using github installer
🔍 Discovering assets for astral-sh/uv (macos-aarch64)
  Found: uv-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
✅ uv v0.1.24 installed successfully!

$ forge why bat
bat
A cat clone with syntax highlighting

$ forge list
Installed tools:
  • bat 0.24.0 - A cat clone with syntax highlighting
  • forge 0.1.1 - Development environment orchestrator
  • uv 0.1.24 - An extremely fast Python package installer and resolver
  • ripgrep 14.0.3 - Blazing fast search tool

Status

Forge is young but capable. It orchestrates installations via:

• ✅ GitHub releases (any repo!)
• ✅ Cargo (Rust ecosystem)
• ✅ Homebrew (macOS)
• ✅ APT (Linux)
• ✅ Custom scripts

Contributing

Found a tool that should be in Forge? Add it to forge.toml and submit a PR. Just need the tool name and description—Forge figures out the rest.

License

MIT