The install script

install.sh is a POSIX shell script of about 110 lines, published with every release. Read it before you run it: it is written to be read, and this page is only a summary of it. It needs curl, tar, sha256sum, uname and mktemp, and runs on x86_64 and aarch64 Linux, the machines there are release builds for. On anything else it says so and stops.

curl -fsSLO https://github.com/ayagmar/niri-computer-use/releases/latest/download/install.sh
less install.sh
sh install.sh

What it downloads

Everything comes from the GitHub release at https://github.com/ayagmar/niri-computer-use/releases. Without NCU_VERSION, the script asks for releases/latest and reads the version from the tag that redirect ends at. It then downloads two files from releases/download/v<version>/ into a temporary directory under TMPDIR:

• niri-computer-use-<version>-<arch>-linux.tar.gz, where <arch> is what uname -m prints
• niri-computer-use-<version>-<arch>-linux.tar.gz.sha256

Each download has 15 seconds to connect and 5 minutes to finish. The script makes no other network requests.

What it checks

Before it writes anywhere it keeps, the script checks three things. Any failure ends with a message and nothing installed.

1. The tarball matches its .sha256. This catches a download that is broken or cut off. It isn’t a signature: the checksum comes from the same release as the tarball and the script, so whoever can change the release’s files can change all three. If you want more than that, read the script and compare the tarball with a build of your own.
2. The binary runs. The script runs niri-computer-use --version from the temporary directory. A binary this system can’t run, such as one that needs a newer glibc than 2.39, fails here. If TMPDIR is mounted noexec, point TMPDIR at a directory programs can run from.
3. The copies succeed. The binary and the skill are each copied beside their destination first, as .niri-computer-use.new, so a copy that fails, on a full disk for example, leaves what was installed before as it was.

What it writes

Path	What
~/.local/bin/niri-computer-use	The binary, mode 755. The directory is created if it is missing. NCU_BIN_DIR changes the directory
~/.local/share/niri-computer-use/skills/niri-computer-use/	The agent skill: SKILL.md, references/tools.md and references/errors.md
~/.claude/skills/niri-computer-use	A symlink to the skill, for Claude Code
~/.agents/skills/niri-computer-use	A symlink to the skill, for Pi, Codex and other agents that read ~/.agents/skills

~/.claude/skills and ~/.agents/skills are created if they are missing. The binary goes into place with a rename, so a server that is running keeps the binary it started with until its clients restart. The temporary directory and the .niri-computer-use.new staging copies are removed when the script ends, however it ends.

If a link already exists at one of the two skill paths and points somewhere else, such as into a clone, the script replaces it and prints a line naming what it pointed to. If something that isn’t a link is there, a directory for example, the script leaves it alone, prints where the skill is, and goes on.

What it never does

• It doesn’t run sudo or need root, and it writes nothing outside the paths above and TMPDIR.
• It doesn’t change your PATH or any shell startup file. If ~/.local/bin isn’t on your PATH, the next steps it prints use the binary’s full path.
• It doesn’t edit your niri config or start the server. It registers the server in an agent only through that agent’s own mcp add command, and only when you say yes at its prompt or set NCU_REGISTER=1; see Registering in your agents. The other steps it prints at the end are for you to run.

Variables

Variable	Effect
NCU_VERSION	The release to install, such as 0.1.0, instead of the latest. A leading v is accepted
NCU_BIN_DIR	Where the binary goes, instead of ~/.local/bin. The skill and its links go to the same places as always
NCU_RELEASES_URL	Where the releases are, instead of this repository’s on GitHub. The test suite points it at a local server
NCU_REGISTER	1 registers the server in every agent found on PATH without asking, 0 registers in none. Unset, the script asks per agent when its output is a terminal, and registers in none otherwise

NCU_VERSION=0.1.0 sh install.sh
NCU_BIN_DIR=~/bin sh install.sh

Registering in your agents

After the files are in place, the script looks for claude, pi and codex on PATH. For each one it finds it asks, when its output is a terminal, whether to register the server now, and shows the command it would run:

claude mcp add --scope user niri-computer-use -- ~/.local/bin/niri-computer-use serve
pi mcp add niri-computer-use --exposure direct -- ~/.local/bin/niri-computer-use serve
codex mcp add niri-computer-use -- ~/.local/bin/niri-computer-use serve

These are the agents’ own commands, the same ones Client setup gives, so no config file is edited by the script. An agent that already has niri-computer-use registered (checked with claude mcp get for Claude Code) is left as it is. An agent that refuses the command doesn’t fail the install: the script prints the agent’s last line of output and lists the command under the next steps for you to run. With NCU_REGISTER=1 it registers in every agent found without asking, for unattended installs; with NCU_REGISTER=0, or when the output isn’t a terminal and the variable is unset, it registers in none and prints the commands instead.

Update

Run the script again. It replaces the binary and the skill the same way, and the two links keep pointing at the skill. The Install page says what happens to agents that are running while you update.

Uninstall

The script has no uninstall mode; remove what it wrote. These two commands undo an install with the default NCU_BIN_DIR:

rm ~/.local/bin/niri-computer-use ~/.claude/skills/niri-computer-use ~/.agents/skills/niri-computer-use
rm -r ~/.local/share/niri-computer-use

To unregister the server from an agent the script registered it in, use the agent’s own command: claude mcp remove --scope user niri-computer-use, pi mcp remove niri-computer-use or codex mcp remove niri-computer-use.

If the script said it replaced or left one of the skill paths, that path wasn’t its own: leave it out of the first rm, and point a replaced link back where the script said it pointed.

The directories the script created around these paths, such as ~/.local/bin and ~/.claude/skills, stay, in case other programs use them. Things you set up afterwards aren’t the script’s, so they stay too: the server’s entry in your agent (claude mcp remove niri-computer-use for Claude Code), the stop key bind in your niri config, the policy file at ~/.config/niri-computer-use/, the audit log under ~/.local/state/niri-computer-use/, and screenshots the agent saved under ~/Pictures/niri-computer-use.