Install the tale CLI

The tale CLI is the operator's tool for driving a self-hosted instance from a workstation. It wraps the most common operations — deploying a new version, running migrations, capturing diagnostics — so you do not have to remember every docker compose invocation. This walk installs it on the three supported platforms and points it at your instance.

The CLI is optional. Everything it does can be done with docker compose and ssh directly; the CLI is a convenience for teams that prefer a single command surface. If the team is already deep in their own automation, skip this page and stay with compose.

Before you begin

You need:

• A workstation running macOS, Linux, or Windows 10+.
• SSH access to the host your Tale instance runs on, with the operator user able to run docker compose.
• The admin key from First admin handy.

The installer downloads a release binary from GitHub. Corporate networks that block raw-content downloads need to allow raw.githubusercontent.com and github.com.

Step 1 — Run install-cli.sh or install-cli.ps1

On macOS or Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tale-project/tale/main/scripts/install-cli.sh | bash

On Windows PowerShell:

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tale-project/tale/main/scripts/install-cli.ps1 | iex

Both installers detect the OS, pull the matching release binary from the latest GitHub release, and drop it on the PATH (/usr/local/bin/tale or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\tale\tale.exe). To pin a version, set the VERSION environment variable before piping into the installer.

Step 2 — Verify

tale --version

The CLI prints its version. If the command is not found, the installer dropped the binary outside the PATH — the installer output names the destination directory.

Step 3 — Configure the admin key

tale config set host tale.example.com
tale config set admin-key <key-from-first-admin>

The CLI stores configuration under ~/.config/tale/config.yml. The admin key authenticates the CLI's calls to the platform container; restarting the platform container rotates the key, so refresh it then.

Step 4 — Run tale deploy

tale deploy

tale deploy pulls the latest images for the configured TALE_VERSION, restarts the affected containers in the right order, and runs schema migrations. It is the supported replacement for the longer docker compose pull && docker compose up -d dance. If you prefer compose directly, the same effect lives in Upgrades.

Troubleshooting

• tale --version printed but tale deploy errors with "host not configured". Run tale config set host … first; the CLI does not pick up the host from .env.
• tale deploy errors with "auth failed". The admin key rotated since you configured it. Re-run ./scripts/get-admin-key.sh on the host and tale config set admin-key … on the workstation.
• Installer fails on macOS with a Gatekeeper warning. The binary is signed but not notarised yet on Apple silicon; the installer prints the xattr command to clear the quarantine flag.
• tale not found after install on Linux. The installer drops the binary in /usr/local/bin; verify the directory is on the user's PATH (echo $PATH).

Where this gets used

Once the CLI is wired up, the operator's daily surface shrinks to a handful of subcommands. The pages worth reading next depend on what you came to do — Upgrades for version bumps, Backups and restore for snapshot drills, Container architecture for what the CLI restarts when it deploys.