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Install and update

This page covers installing the droneship CLI on macOS or Linux, how it updates itself, and how to turn updates off or pin a version.

  1. Run the installer.

    Terminal window
    curl -fsSL https://droneship.run/install | sh
      Installing droneship 0.2.0...
      (this can take a minute; Ctrl-C is paused while uv installs)
      Installed droneship 0.2.0 to /Users/you/.local/bin/droneship
    

      Next:
        droneship login
        droneship run claude
    

      droneship keeps itself up to date. Set DRONESHIP_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 to opt out.

  2. If the installer says the directory is not on your PATH, add the line it prints, then open a new terminal.

      /Users/you/.local/bin is not on your PATH. Add it, then open a new terminal:
        echo 'export PATH="/Users/you/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

    It names ~/.zshrc for zsh, ~/.bashrc for bash, and ~/.profile otherwise. The installer doesn’t edit your shell files.

  3. Check the install.

    Terminal window
    droneship --version
    droneship      0.2.0
    control plane  not signed in (run `droneship login`)
    endpoint       https://api.highflame.ai
    profile        default

    Once you sign in, the control-plane row shows the service’s version too.

What the installer does

Section titled “What the installer does”
  • Platforms. macOS and Linux, on x86_64 or arm64. On Windows it stops and asks you to use WSL2 (Ubuntu) and run the same command there.
  • Requirements. curl, and sha256sum or shasum to verify the download. It checks the release’s SHA-256 before installing anything.
  • uv. droneship runs on uv. If you don’t have uv, the installer puts a pinned version in ~/.local/bin (or $XDG_BIN_HOME). uv installs droneship with Python 3.12, and fetches its own copy if you don’t have one, so your system Python isn’t changed.
  • Where it goes. uv tool install puts droneship in uv’s tool bin directory, usually ~/.local/bin.
  • Running it again upgrades to the latest release in place.

Updates

Section titled “Updates”

droneship checks droneship.run for a newer release at most once an hour, when you run a command. If there is one, it installs it and then runs your command on the new version:

droneship: updating <old> -> <new> (set DRONESHIP_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 to skip)
droneship: updated <old> -> <new>

To update right now:

Terminal window
droneship update
droneship is up to date (0.2.0)

The automatic check is skipped for --help and --version, when the CI environment variable is set, and when you run as root. droneship update also refuses to run as root.

Turn off auto-update or pin a version

Section titled “Turn off auto-update or pin a version”

To turn the hourly update off, set this in your shell profile:

Terminal window
export DRONESHIP_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1

To install a specific published version, set DRONESHIP_VERSION for the installer:

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://droneship.run/install | DRONESHIP_VERSION=0.2.0 sh

If an update fails partway, droneship tells you to run the installer again, which repairs the install.

More: droneship update, Environment variables.

Next

Section titled “Next”