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Install on Windows

Install the alter CLI on Windows with a single line, run from any terminal that hosts PowerShell: Windows Terminal, the classic console, or a PowerShell tab in your editor. The installer fetches the official @truealter/cli npm package and puts the alter command on your PATH. The optional always-on daemon (~alter’s alter-runtime) ships for Linux and macOS; on Windows you run the CLI directly, which is all you need to sign in and be known.

Install

Open a terminal that runs PowerShell, Windows Terminal, the classic console, or a PowerShell tab in your editor, and run the line below. Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7+ both work.

bash
irm https://truealter.com/install.ps1 | iex

Then bind your handle:

bash
alter login

What it does

  • •Installs a pinned, checksum-protected @truealter/cli globally and puts the alter command on your PATH.
  • •If Node.js 20 or newer is missing, installs it automatically via winget, with a Chocolatey fallback.
  • •Refreshes the live session PATH in place, so the same terminal can run alter straight after install. No new window needed.
  • •Re-runs heal in place: a second run upgrades cleanly and unseats the legacy alter bin from pre-0.4.1 builds.

Node.js

The installer handles Node.js for you. If automatic install is blocked on your machine, install Node.js 20+ yourself and re-run the line above:

bash
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS
# or, with Chocolatey:
choco install nodejs-lts

If npm reports a permissions error, open PowerShell as Administrator and re-run the installer.

Verify

bash
alter --version
alter whoami

Prefer to manage Node yourself?

If you already run Node 20+, install the same package straight from the registry with npm install -g @truealter/cli. See the npm install guide for details. It is the same CLI either way.

Next steps

Getting started

Bind a ~handle and make your first authenticated request.

Connect your agent

Wire Claude Code or any MCP client to your running CLI.