Homebrew (macOS / Linux)¶

Install the PAI CLI tools via Homebrew for easy access to the flasher, VM launcher, and ISO verifier.

Install¶

brew install nirholas/tap/pai

Or as two separate steps:

brew tap nirholas/tap
brew install pai

Subcommands¶

Command	Description
`pai flash`	Flash PAI to a USB drive interactively
`pai try`	Launch PAI in a local VM (requires QEMU)
`pai verify <iso>`	Verify a downloaded ISO's SHA256 checksum
`pai update`	Check for a newer PAI release
`pai version`	Print CLI version and latest PAI release
`pai doctor`	Check prerequisites (QEMU, curl, sha256sum, KVM/HVF)
`pai help`	Show all subcommands

Every subcommand accepts --help for detailed usage.

Examples¶

# Flash PAI to a USB drive
pai flash

# Verify a downloaded ISO before flashing manually
pai verify ~/Downloads/pai-v0.2.0-amd64.iso

# Check if your system can run PAI in a VM
pai doctor

# See what version you have and what's latest
pai version

Prerequisites¶

The pai CLI itself only requires a POSIX shell and curl. Individual subcommands may require additional tools:

pai flash — needs a removable drive and root access
pai try — needs qemu-system-x86_64 or qemu-system-aarch64
pai verify — needs sha256sum, gsha256sum, or shasum

Run pai doctor to check what's available on your system.

Upgrade¶

brew upgrade pai

The formula is automatically updated when a new PAI release is published.

Uninstall¶

brew uninstall pai

This removes the pai CLI, flash.sh, and try.sh from your Homebrew prefix. It does not affect any PAI USB drives you've already created.

How it works¶

The Homebrew formula installs:

pai → $(brew --prefix)/bin/pai
flash.sh → $(brew --prefix)/libexec/pai/flash.sh
try.sh → $(brew --prefix)/libexec/pai/try.sh

The pai command is a thin POSIX shell dispatcher that routes subcommands to the appropriate bundled script.

Troubleshooting¶

`pai: error: flash.sh not found`¶

The libexec directory wasn't set up correctly. Reinstall:

brew reinstall pai

`pai doctor` shows warnings¶

Install missing prerequisites:

brew install qemu coreutils

Formula audit failures¶

If you're contributing to the tap, run:

brew audit --strict Formula/pai.rb
brew test pai