HTTP Backend experimental

You may install tools directly from HTTP URLs using the http backend. This backend downloads files from any HTTP/HTTPS URL and is ideal for tools that distribute pre-built binaries or archives through direct download links.

The code for this is inside of the mise repository at ./src/backend/http.rs.

Usage

The following installs a tool from a direct HTTP URL:

mise use -g http:[email protected][url=https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz]

The version will be set in ~/.config/mise/config.toml with the following format:

[tools]
"http:my-tool" = { version = "1.0.0", url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz" }

Supported HTTP Syntax

• HTTP with URL parameter: http:[email protected][url=https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz]

Tool Options

The following tool-options are available for the http backend—these go in [tools] in mise.toml.

url (Required)

Specifies the HTTP URL to download the tool from:

[tools]
"http:my-tool" = { version = "1.0.0", url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz" }

Platform-specific URLs

For tools that need different downloads per platform, use the table format:

[tools."http:my-tool"]
version = "1.0.0"

[tools."http:my-tool".platforms]
macos-x64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-macos-x64.tar.gz" }
macos-arm64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-macos-arm64.tar.gz" }
linux-x64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-linux-x64.tar.gz" }

TIP

You can use either macos or darwin, and x64 or amd64 for platform keys. macos and x64 are preferred in documentation and examples, but all variants are accepted.

checksum

Verify the downloaded file with a checksum:

[tools."http:my-tool"]
version = "1.0.0"
url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz"
checksum = "sha256:a1b2c3d4e5f6789..."

Instead of specifying the checksum here, you can use mise.lock to manage checksums.

Platform-specific Checksums

[tools."http:my-tool"]
version = "1.0.0"

[tools."http:my-tool".platforms]
macos-x64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-macos-x64.tar.gz", checksum = "sha256:a1b2c3d4e5f6789..." }
macos-arm64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-macos-arm64.tar.gz", checksum = "sha256:b2c3d4e5f6789..." }
linux-x64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-linux-x64.tar.gz", checksum = "sha256:c3d4e5f6789..." }

size

Verify the downloaded file size:

[tools."http:my-tool"]
version = "1.0.0"
url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz"
size = "12345678"

Platform-specific Size

You can specify different sizes for different platforms:

[tools."http:my-tool"]
version = "1.0.0"

[tools."http:my-tool".platforms]
macos-x64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-macos-x64.tar.gz", size = "12345678" }
macos-arm64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-macos-arm64.tar.gz", size = "9876543" }
linux-x64 = { url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0-linux-x64.tar.gz", size = "11111111" }

strip_components

Number of directory components to strip when extracting archives:

[tools."http:my-tool"]
version = "1.0.0"
url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz"
strip_components = 1

INFO

If strip_components is not explicitly set, mise will automatically detect when to apply strip_components = 1. This happens when the extracted archive contains exactly one directory at the root level and no files. This is common with tools like ripgrep that package their binaries in a versioned directory (e.g., ripgrep-14.1.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/rg). The auto-detection ensures the binary is placed directly in the install path where mise expects it.

bin_path

Specify the directory containing binaries within the extracted archive, or where to place the downloaded file. This supports templating with {name}, {version}, {os}, {arch}, and {ext}:

[tools."http:my-tool"]
version = "1.0.0"
url = "https://example.com/releases/my-tool-v1.0.0.tar.gz"
bin_path = "{name}-{version}/bin" # expands to my-tool-1.0.0/bin

Binary path lookup order:

1. If bin_path is specified, use that directory
2. If bin_path is not set, look for a bin/ directory in the install path
3. If no bin/ directory exists, search subdirectories for bin/ directories
4. If no bin/ directories are found, use the root of the extracted directory