Installation

BioLang is distributed as a single binary with no external runtime dependencies. You can install it via Cargo, download a pre-built binary, or build from source.

System Requirements

Quick Install (Linux / macOS)

One command to download and install the latest release:

curl -fsSL https://lang.bio/install.sh | sh

This detects your platform and architecture, downloads the correct binary from GitHub Releases, and installs bl and bl-lsp to /usr/local/bin. Set BIOLANG_INSTALL_DIR to change the install location.

Quick Install (Windows)

The same thing in PowerShell:

iwr -useb https://lang.bio/install.ps1 | iex

This downloads the latest release, checks it against the published checksums.sha256, and installs bl.exe and bl-lsp.exe to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\BioLang\bin, adding that directory to your user PATH. No administrator rights are needed. Set BIOLANG_INSTALL_DIR to install elsewhere, or BIOLANG_NO_MODIFY_PATH=1 to leave PATH alone.

Install via Cargo

The fastest way to install BioLang if you already have a Rust toolchain. This installs the bl binary to your Cargo bin directory.

cargo install --git https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang bl-cli

Verify the installation:

bl --version

If bl is not found, ensure ~/.cargo/bin is in your PATH:

# Linux / macOS — add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"

# Windows (PowerShell) — add to $PROFILE
$env:PATH = "$env:USERPROFILE\.cargo\bin;$env:PATH"

Pre-built Binaries

Pre-built binaries are available for every tagged release on GitHub. Download the archive for your platform, extract it, and place the bl binary somewhere on your PATH.

Linux (x86_64)

curl -Lo biolang.tar.gz \
  https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang/releases/latest/download/biolang-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzf biolang.tar.gz
sudo mv bl /usr/local/bin/
bl --version

Linux (aarch64)

curl -Lo biolang.tar.gz \
  https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang/releases/latest/download/biolang-linux-aarch64.tar.gz
tar xzf biolang.tar.gz
sudo mv bl /usr/local/bin/
bl --version

macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel)

# Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
curl -Lo biolang.tar.gz \
  https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang/releases/latest/download/biolang-macos-aarch64.tar.gz

# Intel
curl -Lo biolang.tar.gz \
  https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang/releases/latest/download/biolang-macos-x86_64.tar.gz

tar xzf biolang.tar.gz
sudo mv bl /usr/local/bin/
bl --version

There is no Homebrew tap yet, so brew install biolang/tap/biolang does not work — nor do scoop install, choco install or cargo install biolang, since BioLang is not published to those registries. The one-line installer above, or a build from source, are the routes that exist today.

Windows

Download biolang-windows-x86_64.zip from the releases page, extract it, and add the folder to your PATH.

# PowerShell
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang/releases/latest/download/biolang-windows-x86_64.zip" -OutFile biolang.zip
Expand-Archive biolang.zip -DestinationPath "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\biolang"
$env:PATH += ";$env:LOCALAPPDATA\biolang"
bl --version

Building from Source

Clone the repository and build with Cargo. This requires Rust 1.75 or later.

git clone https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang.git
cd biolang
cargo build --release
# Binary is at target/release/bl

To run the test suite after building:

cargo test --workspace

For development builds with debug symbols and faster compilation:

cargo build
# Binary is at target/debug/bl

Updating

BioLang has a built-in self-update mechanism. Check your current version and whether an update is available:

bl version

Upgrade to the latest release with a single command:

bl upgrade

This downloads the correct binary for your platform from GitHub Releases and replaces the current bl executable automatically.

BioLang also checks for updates in the background when you run bl run or bl repl. If a newer version is available, a one-line notice appears on stderr. This check runs at most once per 24 hours and never blocks startup. Disable it with:

export BIOLANG_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1

Alternative update methods

If you installed via Cargo:

cargo install --git https://github.com/oriclabs/biolang bl-cli --force

Uninstalling

# Installed with the one-line installer
rm /usr/local/bin/bl /usr/local/bin/bl-lsp

# Installed with Cargo
cargo uninstall bl-cli

# Windows: delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\BioLangin and remove it from PATH

Next Steps

Now that BioLang is installed, head to the Quick Start guide to write your first program.