Install the CLI

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or later — verify with node --version
• npm (ships with Node.js)
• A Betterness account

Install

npm install -g @betterness/cli

Same command on all platforms. If your global npm path is not on PATH, see the troubleshooting note at the bottom.

Verify

betterness --version

You should see a version number like 0.4.2. If you instead get command not found, your shell can't see npm's global bin directory.

Update

npm update -g @betterness/cli

Global flags (apply to every command)

Flag	Purpose
--api-key <key>	Use a specific API key (overrides stored credentials)
--json	Output as JSON — use this in scripts and pipelines
--markdown	Output as Markdown
--quiet	Suppress output, exit code only
-V, --version	Print the CLI version

Path troubleshooting

If betterness is not found after install, your shell can't see npm's global bin directory.

# Find it
npm prefix -g

# Add it to PATH (bash/zsh)
echo 'export PATH="$(npm prefix -g)/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.profile
source ~/.profile

macOS with nvm: run nvm use default first so the global install lands in the active version.

Windows PowerShell: the install location is typically %APPDATA%\npm; ensure that's on your PATH.

Next

Authenticate to link the CLI to your Betterness account.