Installing Sailfin

Just want the binary? Head to the Downloads page for pre-built binaries for every supported platform, or keep reading for the recommended install script.

Requirements

Sailfin runs on the following platforms:

Platform	Architectures
Linux	x86_64, arm64
macOS	x86_64, arm64 (Apple Silicon)
Windows	x86_64

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) and Git Bash on Windows are also supported and use the Linux install path.

Compiler and linker tools

The installer only downloads and places the released sfn binary. To compile, run, or test Sailfin programs, the current backend still needs LLVM tools 17+ or 18+ plus clang and the platform linker. Release binaries do not bundle LLVM/clang.

The installer script itself also requires curl, tar, uname, mktemp, and jq on Linux/macOS because it selects release assets through the GitHub API.

If you are building Sailfin itself from source, you also need bash, make, OpenSSL development libraries, and the source-build dependencies listed in Building from source.

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Quick Install (recommended)

Linux and macOS

Paste the following into a terminal:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.sh | bash

The script will:

1. Detect your OS and architecture
2. Download the latest matching release binary from GitHub Releases
3. Install sailfin and sfn to ~/.local/bin
4. Print confirmation when complete

Example output:

Detected: linux/x86_64
Downloading sfn <version>...
Installed sailfin -> /home/you/.local/bin/sailfin
Installed sfn    -> /home/you/.local/bin/sfn
Done. Run 'sfn --version' to verify.

Windows (PowerShell)

Paste the following into a PowerShell terminal (PowerShell 5.1+ or PowerShell 7+):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.ps1 | iex

The script installs sailfin.exe and sfn.exe to %LOCALAPPDATA%\sailfin\bin and adds that directory to your user PATH automatically. You do not need to run PowerShell as Administrator.

Example output:

Detected: windows/x86_64
Downloading sfn <version>...
Installed sailfin.exe -> C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\sailfin\bin\sailfin.exe
Installed sfn.exe     -> C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\sailfin\bin\sfn.exe
Added C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\sailfin\bin to user PATH.
Done. Restart your terminal, then run 'sfn --version' to verify.

Windows users: Restart your terminal after installation so that the updated PATH takes effect. If you use Windows Terminal, close and reopen the window.

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Verifying the Installation

After installing, run:

sfn --version

Expected output:

sfn <version>

If the command is not found, see Troubleshooting below.

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Pinning a Version

Sailfin is pre-1.0, so pin exact release versions in CI and reproducible setup scripts. Omit VERSION for the latest release asset that matches your platform. Compiler repository development uses the exact seed version in bootstrap.toml, not a hard-coded docs-page version.

Linux and macOS

Replace the example version with the release you want to pin:

VERSION=0.8.0-alpha.5
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.sh | VERSION="$VERSION" bash

You can also pass the version as an install-script argument:

VERSION=0.8.0-alpha.5
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --version "$VERSION"

Windows (PowerShell)

Replace the example version with the release you want to pin:

$env:VERSION = "0.8.0-alpha.5"
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.ps1 | iex

Set $env:VERSION before invoking iex so the script reads it.

Why pin? The Sailfin project is marching toward a 1.0 release. Alpha builds may include regressions as large parts of the compiler and runtime are rewritten. Pinning gives CI and onboarding scripts a reproducible toolchain.

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What Gets Installed

The installer places two binaries in the install directory. They are identical — sfn is a shorter alias for sailfin:

Binary	Purpose
sailfin	The full compiler and toolchain
sfn	Alias for sailfin; most examples and docs use sfn

Default install locations

Platform	Directory
Linux / macOS	~/.local/bin
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\sailfin\bin

You can override the install directory by setting GLOBAL_BIN_DIR before running the script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.sh | GLOBAL_BIN_DIR=/usr/local/bin bash

Confirming the binaries are on PATH

/home/you/.local/bin/sfn

which sfn
sfn --version
# sfn <version>

On Windows:

\Users\you\AppData\Local\sailfin\bin\sfn.exe

Get-Command sfn
# CommandType  Name   Source

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Manual Installation

If you cannot run the install script (e.g., in an air-gapped environment), you can download and place the binary manually. The Downloads page lists every platform binary with direct download links.

Step 1: Find the release asset

Go to the Downloads page or directly to github.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/releases and locate the release you want to install. Release assets follow this naming convention:

sailfin_<version>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz

Examples:

Asset name	Platform
sailfin_${VERSION}_linux_x86_64.tar.gz	Linux x86_64
sailfin_${VERSION}_macos_arm64.tar.gz	macOS Apple Silicon
sailfin_${VERSION}_windows_x86_64.tar.gz	Windows x86_64

Step 2: Extract and place the binary

VERSION=0.8.0-alpha.5

# Download (replace the filename with the one that matches your platform)
curl -LO "https://github.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/releases/download/v${VERSION}/sailfin_${VERSION}_linux_x86_64.tar.gz"

# Extract
tar -xzf "sailfin_${VERSION}_linux_x86_64.tar.gz"

# The archive contains bin/sailfin and bin/sfn
# Move them to a directory on your PATH
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cp bin/sailfin ~/.local/bin/sailfin
cp bin/sfn     ~/.local/bin/sfn
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/sailfin ~/.local/bin/sfn

Step 3: Verify

sfn --version
# sfn <version>

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Building from Source

Building from source is useful when:

• You are contributing to the compiler
• You need a build for an unsupported platform
• You want to test unreleased changes

Prerequisites

• git, bash, make
• curl, tar, mktemp, uname, jq
• LLVM tools 17+ or 18+ (llvm-link, llvm-as)
• clang and the platform linker
• OpenSSL development libraries (libssl-dev, openssl-devel, or Homebrew openssl@3)
• shasum -a 256 or sha256sum

See the compiler/runtime development setup for per-platform package commands and the complete supported build flag table.

Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/SailfinIO/sailfin.git
cd sailfin

# Build the native compiler by self-hosting from the released seed pinned in bootstrap.toml
make compile

# Install to ~/.local/bin (or set PREFIX to override)
make install

After make install, verify with:

sfn --version

You can also run the binary directly without installing:

build/bin/sfn --version

Note: make compile routes through <seed> build -p compiler — the Sailfin-native driver — and requires bash, clang, LLVM tools, jq, and OpenSSL development libraries. The prior scripts/build.sh orchestrator is no longer in-tree.

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Updating

To update to the latest release, re-run the install script. It overwrites the existing binaries in-place:

# Linux / macOS: update to latest
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.sh | bash

# Linux / macOS: update to a specific version
VERSION=0.8.0-alpha.5
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.sh | VERSION="$VERSION" bash

# Windows: update to latest
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.ps1 | iex

As with the initial install, pinning to a known release version is recommended for CI and reproducible environments.

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Uninstalling

Delete the binaries from the install directory:

# Linux / macOS
rm ~/.local/bin/sailfin ~/.local/bin/sfn

# Windows
Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\sailfin\bin\sailfin.exe"
Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\sailfin\bin\sfn.exe"

You may also want to remove %LOCALAPPDATA%\sailfin (Windows) or the now-empty ~/.local/bin entries from your shell profile, if applicable.

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Troubleshooting

sfn: command not found after installation

The install directory is not on your PATH. Check which shell you are using and add the directory:

bash (~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile):

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

zsh (~/.zshrc):

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

After editing the file, reload it:

source ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc

On macOS, if you installed globally to /usr/local/bin, that directory is usually already on PATH. Confirm with echo $PATH.

Permission denied when running the binary (Linux / macOS)

The binary may not be marked executable. Fix it:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/sailfin ~/.local/bin/sfn

Missing LLVM, clang, or OpenSSL during a build

Install the source-build dependencies for your platform:

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt-get install clang-18 llvm-18 libssl-dev jq

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install clang llvm llvm-devel openssl-devel jq

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install jq llvm openssl@3

If Homebrew LLVM is installed but llvm-link is not detected, put it on PATH:

export PATH="$(brew --prefix llvm)/bin:$PATH"

If macOS cannot find OpenSSL at link time, set:

export SAILFIN_OPENSSL_PREFIX="$(brew --prefix openssl@3)"

GitHub API rate limiting during install

The install script calls the GitHub Releases API to find the latest version. If you hit rate limits (common in CI environments), set a GitHub token:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.sh | GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here bash

Alternatively, pin the version explicitly with VERSION=<version> — this constructs the asset name directly and can avoid the release-list lookup.

Windows: script execution policy

If PowerShell refuses to run the install script, you may need to allow remote scripts for the current session:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SailfinIO/sailfin/main/install.ps1 | iex

This change only affects the current PowerShell session and does not persist.

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Next Steps

• Downloads — Pre-built binaries for every platform
• Editor Setup — Install the Sailfin VS Code extension for syntax highlighting and snippets
• Hello, World! — Write and run your first Sailfin program
• Tour of Sailfin — A guided introduction to the language