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Installation Guide

This guide covers all installation methods for thresh on Windows with WSL 2.

Prerequisites​

Windows​

WSL 2 Required

# Check if WSL is installed
wsl --version

Expected output:

WSL version: 2.x.x.x
Kernel version: 5.x.x.x
Install WSL

If WSL is not installed:

wsl --install

Then restart your computer.

Installation Methods​

Download Pre-built Binary​

Windows:

# Create installation directory
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path C:\thresh

# Download latest release (v1.3.0)
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/dealer426/thresh/releases/latest/download/thresh.exe" -OutFile "C:\thresh\thresh.exe"

# Add to PATH for current session
$env:Path += ";C:\thresh"

# Add to PATH permanently
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";C:\thresh", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)

# Verify installation
thresh --version

Linux:

# Download (Linux x64)
curl -LO https://github.com/dealer426/thresh/releases/latest/download/thresh-linux-x64

# Make executable
chmod +x thresh-linux-x64

# Move to PATH
sudo mv thresh-linux-x64 /usr/local/bin/thresh

# Verify
thresh --version

macOS:

# Download (macOS ARM64)
curl -LO https://github.com/dealer426/thresh/releases/latest/download/thresh-osx-arm64

# Make executable
chmod +x thresh-osx-arm64

# Move to PATH
sudo mv thresh-osx-arm64 /usr/local/bin/thresh

# Verify
thresh --version
Binary Size

The thresh binary is only 3.8 MB thanks to Native AOT + UPX compression!

GitHub Copilot Setup​

thresh uses GitHub Copilot SDK for AI features (no API keys needed!).

1. Install GitHub CLI​

winget install GitHub.cli

2. Authenticate​

gh auth login

Follow the prompts to authenticate with your GitHub account.

3. Verify​

# Check GitHub CLI
gh auth status

# Check thresh can access AI
thresh config status

Expected output:

thresh Configuration
═══════════════════════════════════════

GitHub Copilot: ✓ Authenticated
Default Model: gpt-4o
...

Verification​

Test Installation​

# Show version
thresh --version

Expected output:

thresh v1.3.0
Runtime: .NET 10.0.0
Platform: Windows/WSL (or Linux, macOS)
Binary Size: 3.8 MB

List Available Commands​

thresh --help

List Built-in Blueprints​

thresh blueprints

Expected output:

Available blueprints:

alpine-minimal    - Minimal Alpine Linux environment
ubuntu-dev        - Ubuntu development environment with common tools
python-dev        - Python development environment
node-dev          - Node.js development environment
...

Quick Test Environment​

# Create a minimal environment (fastest)
thresh up alpine-minimal

# List environments
thresh list

# Access environment
wsl -d alpine-minimal  # Windows
# or
docker exec -it alpine-minimal sh  # Linux/macOS

# Clean up
thresh destroy alpine-minimal

Upgrading​

Upgrade to Latest Version​

# Windows - Download and replace
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/dealer426/thresh/releases/latest/download/thresh.exe" -OutFile "C:\thresh\thresh.exe"

# Verify new version
thresh --version
# Linux/macOS - Download and replace
curl -LO https://github.com/dealer426/thresh/releases/latest/download/thresh-linux-x64
chmod +x thresh-linux-x64
sudo mv thresh-linux-x64 /usr/local/bin/thresh

# Verify
thresh --version

Uninstallation​

Remove thresh​

# Remove binary
Remove-Item C:\thresh\thresh.exe

# Remove from PATH (if added permanently)
# Open System Properties > Environment Variables
# Edit PATH and remove C:\thresh

# Remove configuration (optional)
Remove-Item -Recurse ~/.thresh

Clean Up Environments​

Before uninstalling, clean up all environments:

# List all environments
thresh list

# Destroy each environment
thresh destroy <environment-name>

# Or destroy all (PowerShell)
thresh list | ForEach-Object { 
  $name = ($_ -split '\s+')[0]
  thresh destroy $name --force
}

Troubleshooting​

"Command not found" after installation​

Windows:

# Check if thresh.exe exists
Test-Path C:\thresh\thresh.exe

# Add to PATH for current session
$env:Path += ";C:\thresh"

# Verify
thresh --version

Linux/macOS:

# Check if binary exists
ls -l /usr/local/bin/thresh

# Check PATH
echo $PATH

# Make sure /usr/local/bin is in PATH
export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

"WSL not found" (Windows)​

# Install WSL
wsl --install

# Restart computer
shutdown /r /t 0

"Permission denied" (Linux/macOS)​

# Make binary executable
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/thresh

# Or if in current directory
chmod +x thresh

Binary won't run on Linux​

# Check dependencies (none should be required for self-contained build)
ldd /usr/local/bin/thresh

# If issues, rebuild from source without Native AOT
dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64

Next Steps​

Happy provisioning! 🚀