Installation

BeadSpec requires the bd CLI to be installed first — it provides the database engine. bd auto-provisions Dolt on first run, so you don't need to install Dolt separately.

Step 1: Install bd

Platform	Command
macOS	brew install bd
Linux	Download from the Beads releases page, make executable, and place on your $PATH
Windows	Download bd.exe from the Beads releases page and add its directory to %PATH%

Verify: bd --version

Step 2: Install BeadSpec

Download the latest installer from the Releases page:

macOS

Download the .dmg, open it, and drag BeadSpec to /Applications.

Gatekeeper

Unsigned builds are blocked by macOS Gatekeeper on first launch. To open:

• Right-click BeadSpec.app → Open → Open
• Or from Terminal: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/BeadSpec.app

Windows

Download .msi (recommended) or .exe and run the installer.

SmartScreen

Windows may show a SmartScreen warning for unsigned builds. Click More info → Run anyway.

Linux

AppImage (works on most distributions):

chmod +x BeadSpec_0.1.0_amd64.AppImage
./BeadSpec_0.1.0_amd64.AppImage

Debian/Ubuntu (.deb):

sudo dpkg -i beadspec_0.1.0_amd64.deb

Fedora/RHEL (.rpm):

sudo rpm -i beadspec-0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpm

Required system library (Ubuntu 22.04+):

sudo apt-get install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0

Step 3: Launch

Open BeadSpec. If it can't find bd on your PATH, a setup dialog appears — use it to point BeadSpec at the bd binary directly.

Building from Source

See Contributing → Getting Started for build prerequisites and instructions.