Dev Tools

Like asdf (or nvm or pyenv but for any language) it manages dev tools like node, python, cmake, terraform, and hundreds more.

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New developer? Try reading the Beginner's Guide for a gentler introduction.

mise is a tool for managing programming language and tool versions. For example, use this to install a particular version of Node.js and ruby for a project. Using mise activate, you can have your shell automatically switch to the correct node and ruby versions when you cd into the project's directory. Other projects on your machine can use a different set of versions.

mise is inspired by asdf and uses asdf's vast plugin ecosystem under the hood. However, it is much faster than asdf and has a more friendly user experience. For more on how mise compares to asdf, see below.

mise can be configured in many ways. The most typical is by .mise.toml, but it's also compatible with asdf .tool-versions files. It can also use idiomatic version files like .node-version and .ruby-version. See Configuration for more.

• Like direnv it manages environment variables for different project directories.
• Like make it manages tasks used to build and test projects.

How it works

mise hooks into your shell (with mise activate zsh) and sets the PATH environment variable to point your shell to the correct runtime binaries. When you cd into a directory containing a .tool-versions/.mise.toml file, mise will automatically set the appropriate tool versions in PATH.

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mise does not modify "cd". It actually runs every time the prompt is displayed. See the FAQ.

After activating, every time your prompt displays it will call mise hook-env to fetch new environment variables. This should be very fast. It exits early if the directory wasn't changed or .tool-versions/.mise.toml files haven't been modified.

Unlike asdf which uses shim files to dynamically locate runtimes when they're called, mise modifies PATH ahead of time so the runtimes are called directly. This is not only faster since it avoids any overhead, but it also makes it so commands like which node work as expected. This also means there isn't any need to run asdf reshim after installing new runtime binaries.

You should note that mise does not directly install these tools. Instead, it leverages plugins to install runtimes. See plugins below.

Common commands

Here are some of the most important commands when it comes to working with dev tools.

mise use

For some users, mise use might be the only command you need to learn. It will do the following:

• Install the tool's plugin if needed
• Install the specified version
• Set the version as active (it's in PATH)

mise use node@20 will install the latest version of node-20 and create/update the .tool-versions/.mise.toml config file in the local directory. Anytime you're in that directory, that version of node will be used.

mise use -g node@20 will do the same but update the global config (~/.config/mise/config.toml) so unless there is a config file in the local directory hierarchy, node-20 will be the default version for the user.

mise install

mise install will install but not activate tools—meaning it will download/build/compile the tool into ~/.local/share/mise/installs but you won't be able to use it without "setting" the version in a .tool-versions or .mise-toml file.

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If you're coming from asdf, there is no need to also run mise plugin add to first install the plugin, that will be done automatically if needed. Of course, you can manually install plugins if you wish or you want to use a plugin not in the default registry.

There are many ways it can be used:

• mise install [email protected] - install a specific version
• mise install node@20 - install the latest version matching this prefix
• mise install node - install whatever version of node currently specified in .tool-versions/.mise.toml
• mise install - install all plugins and tools

mise local|global not recommended

mise local and mise global are command which only modify the .tool-versions or .mise.toml files. These are hidden from the CLI help and remain for asdf-compatibility. The recommended approach is to use mise use instead because that will do the same thing but also install the tool if it does not already exists.

mise exec|mise x

mise x can be used for one-off commands using specific tools. e.g.: if you want to run a script with python3.12:

$ mise x [email protected] -- ./myscript.py

Python will be installed if it is not already. mise x will read local/global .tool-versions/.mise-toml files as well, so if you don't want to use mise activate or shims you can use mise by just prefixing commands with mise x --:

$ mise use node@20
$ mise x -- node -v
20.x.x

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If you use this a lot, an alias can be helpful:

$ alias mx="mise x --"

Similarly, mise run can be used to execute tasks which will also activate the mise environment with all of your tools.