eget

Eget is a command-line tool that automates the download and extraction of pre-built binaries from GitHub releases. It takes a GitHub repository identifier (like zyedidia/micro) and automatically finds the appropriate binary for your system architecture from the latest release assets. The tool handles archive extraction and can place executables in specified directories, making it particularly useful for installing single-binary CLI tools distributed on GitHub.

The tool includes platform detection, asset filtering with glob patterns, and support for specific release tags or pre-releases. It can verify SHA-256 checksums automatically when available and supports GitHub API tokens to bypass rate limits (60 requests per hour for unauthenticated users, up to 5,000 with a token). Configuration is managed through a TOML file that supports both global settings and per-repository overrides.

Eget works best with simple, static binaries that require no additional installation steps - common with CLI tools written in Go, Rust, or Haskell. It includes features like --upgrade-only to check if newer versions are available, --download-only for manual extraction workflows, and --system flags for cross-platform downloads. The tool can also extract directories and handle direct URL downloads beyond GitHub releases.

Installation

# via Homebrew
brew install eget

# via Go
go install github.com/zyedidia/eget@latest

# via Chocolatey
choco install eget