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Install

Published 27/10/2026

ADE is one command-line tool, ade. It comes as a single folder per platform with its own Python inside (and git too, on Windows), so nothing is installed on your system and nothing can clash with the Python you already have.

What you need#

You need	Why	Check with
Claude Code, Codex, or both	the engines that do the building and reviewing, signed in with your own account	`claude --version`, `codex --version`
git (macOS and Linux)	every card gets its own git worktree, and records travel on a git branch. The Windows download brings its own	`git --version`
Node 22.6 or newer, only for the TypeScript starter	the TypeScript starter project runs its tests with Node	`node --version`

Install the engines from their own pages: Claude Code and Codex. ADE starts whichever claude and codex it finds on your PATH and never installs them; you can try everything without either one (see Quickstart).

ADE does not use tmux, launchd, cron or any background service. Long runs detach with ade session, which works the same on every platform.

Download#

Your account has one download per platform: macOS (Apple silicon), macOS (Intel), Linux (x86-64) and Windows (x86-64). Each comes with a .sha256 file if you want to check the archive before opening it:

shasum -a 256 -c atlas-ade-*.sha256    # Linux: sha256sum -c; Windows: certutil -hashfile <file> SHA256

Install#

Unpack the archive wherever you keep tools, such as ~/tools or C:\Tools. Moving the folder later only needs step 3 again.
macOS only: a download from a browser is quarantined, and the bundled Python may be blocked. Clear the mark once, from the folder that holds the unpacked one:
SH
```
 xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine atlas-ade-*
```

From inside the unpacked folder, check it runs and give yourself a plain ade:

 ./ade --version                     # Windows: .\ade.cmd --version
 ./ade link                          # Windows: .\ade.cmd link

In a new terminal, start a project:

 mkdir my-project && cd my-project && ade init && ade loop c1

The folder's INSTALL.txt repeats these steps.

What `ade link` does#

ade link writes one small launcher named ade into a per-user folder that is already on your PATH, such as ~/.local/bin or ~/bin. It never edits your PATH or your shell profile, and never puts ADE's own Python ahead of your system's. If no such folder exists (common on a fresh Mac), it writes nothing and prints the one alias line to add to your shell profile yourself.

You can skip it entirely: run ADE by its full path instead. ade init points the project's hooks at the full path of the ade that ran it, so the hooks work either way.

Upgrade#

Download the newer archive from your account, unpack it next to the old folder, and run its ade link so the plain ade points at it. Then in each project run ade init --dry-run to see what changes and ade init to apply it. Once everything works, delete the old folder. ade --version says which version is running.

Your account offers every version your purchase covers: the kit includes the version current when you bought it, and each 12 months of updates adds every version released in that time.

Uninstall#

In a project, ade uninstall (try --dry-run first) removes everything ade init generated. It keeps your ade.toml, your records in .ade/ and the ade-records branch, so nothing you decided is lost. Then delete the unpacked folder, and the launcher ade link wrote (ade link printed where).