Installation

The Praxis service runs only on Linux — natively (systemd) or inside a Docker container. The CLI (TUI) runs natively on every supported platform. The one-liner installers walk you through how you want the service deployed; the CLI is always built natively.

The Praxis service is Linux-only. Windows and macOS can only run it in Docker — there is no native service path on either. Linux can run it natively (systemd) or in Docker; Docker is offered there as an alternative when you'd rather not install RabbitMQ + systemd units on the host.

Quick Install (One-Liner)

Linux / macOS

curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash

The installer asks how to install the service:

Native install (Linux only) — installs the binaries to /usr/local/bin, the praxis-service.service systemd unit to /etc/systemd/system, config to /etc/praxis/env, and data to /var/lib/praxis. Requires a running RabbitMQ broker; the installer creates the praxis RabbitMQ user automatically.
Docker install (Linux + macOS) — clones the repo into ~/.praxis-docker and runs docker compose up --build -d. The Praxis container runs systemd as PID 1, so praxisctl works the same inside the container as on a native install. Pick this on macOS because there's no native option, or on Linux if you don't want to install RabbitMQ + systemd units on the host.
Client only — only installs the praxis CLI (TUI); no service is deployed.

The CLI is always installed natively regardless of the choice.

For non-interactive use:

curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --service native
curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --service docker
curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --cli

Prebuilt binaries vs. building from source

By default, the native install (--service native, --cli, or the corresponding interactive choices) downloads prebuilt x86_64 binaries from the latest GitHub Release. This is fast and requires no Rust toolchain. In the interactive flow, a follow-up prompt asks which method to use.

Pass --src to build the binaries from source instead (requires cargo + git; the installer will install Rust via rustup if missing):

curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --service native --src
curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --cli --src

--src has no effect on --service docker, which always builds from source inside the container. The flag is also auto-enabled on non-x86_64 architectures, since prebuilt binaries are only published for x86_64.

Cross-compiling the Windows node binary (optional)

Add --with-win-node to a native install to also stage the Windows praxis_node.exe next to the Linux node binary at /usr/local/share/praxis/nodes/praxis_node_windows.exe. Useful when the service needs to deploy nodes to Windows targets without pulling them from a release.

curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --service native --with-win-node

By default this downloads praxis_node-windows-x86_64.exe from the GitHub release. Combined with --src it cross-compiles instead, which requires mingw-w64 and rustup (the rust target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu is installed automatically). Install mingw-w64 with your distribution's package manager:

Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install mingw-w64
Fedora/RHEL: sudo dnf install mingw64-gcc
Arch: sudo pacman -S mingw-w64-gcc
macOS: brew install mingw-w64

The flag has no effect with --cli, --service docker, or interactive mode — for those, use praxis-bin (AUR) or download the Windows node binary from the GitHub release if you need it.

Windows

The Praxis service is Linux-only, so on Windows the installer runs the service in Docker — that's the only option for the service on Windows. The CLI (TUI) is always installed natively. By default it's downloaded from the latest GitHub release; pass -Src to build from source (requires Rust + git).

irm https://praxis.originhq.com/install.ps1 | iex

The installer asks how you want to install the service:

Docker install — runs the Praxis container alongside RabbitMQ
Client only — only installs the praxis.exe CLI; no service

Non-interactive:

.\install.ps1 -Service docker
.\install.ps1 -Cli
.\install.ps1 -Cli -Src      # build praxis.exe from source instead of downloading
.\install.ps1 -Remove

If Docker is not installed, install Docker Desktop first. If you use -Src and Rust is missing, install it via rustup.

Native install — RabbitMQ prerequisite

Native installs require RabbitMQ to be installed and running before the installer runs. The installer detects this and aborts with instructions if it can't find RabbitMQ.

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install rabbitmq-server
sudo systemctl enable --now rabbitmq-server

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install rabbitmq-server
sudo systemctl enable --now rabbitmq-server

# Arch
sudo pacman -S rabbitmq
sudo systemctl enable --now rabbitmq-server

The installer creates the praxis RabbitMQ user and grants it permissions automatically.

What native install lays down (Linux)

/usr/local/bin/praxis_service — backend service
/usr/local/bin/praxis_cli — CLI binary
/usr/local/bin/praxis — symlink to praxis_cli (preferred command name)
/usr/local/bin/praxisctl — service control utility
/usr/local/share/praxis/nodes/praxis_node_linux — node agent
/etc/systemd/system/praxis-service.service — system-wide systemd unit
/etc/praxis/env — service config (PRAXIS_RABBITMQ_URL, etc.)
/var/lib/praxis/ — data directory (SQLite database lives here by default)
A dedicated praxis system user runs the service

Manage and use Praxis through the praxis TUI — it's the only first-party supported client.

What docker install lays down

The repo is cloned into ~/.praxis-docker. docker compose brings up two services:

rabbitmq — rabbitmq:3-management with the praxis user pre-created
praxis — Praxis container running systemd as PID 1; praxisctl works inside the container

The MCP server and Claude bridges are exposed on ports 8585, 8586, and 8587.

Removing

# Linux/macOS — removes native install + docker install
curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --remove

# also wipes /etc/praxis and /var/lib/praxis
PRAXIS_REMOVE_DATA=1 curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash -s -- --remove

# Windows
iex "& { $(irm https://praxis.originhq.com/install.ps1) } -Remove"

Pinning a Specific Version

# Linux/macOS
PRAXIS_VERSION=v0.10.0 curl -fsSL https://praxis.originhq.com/install.sh | bash

# Windows
$env:PRAXIS_VERSION = "v0.10.0"; irm https://praxis.originhq.com/install.ps1 | iex

Controlling the service — `praxisctl`

After a native (or docker) install, praxisctl is the single entry point for service lifecycle and configuration. It wraps systemctl and edits /etc/praxis/env.

# Service (praxis-service.service)
praxisctl start
praxisctl stop
praxisctl restart
praxisctl enable      # auto-start at boot
praxisctl disable
praxisctl status

# Configuration
praxisctl set-rabbitmqurl amqp://praxis:praxis@localhost:5672
praxisctl get-rabbitmqurl
praxisctl config show
praxisctl config edit       # opens /etc/praxis/env in $EDITOR

praxisctl re-execs itself under sudo when run by an unprivileged user.

Inside the docker install, the same commands work via docker compose:

cd ~/.praxis-docker
docker compose exec praxis praxisctl status
docker compose exec praxis praxisctl set-rabbitmqurl amqp://praxis:praxis@rabbitmq:5672

Configuring the CLI — `praxis set-rabbitmqurl`

The praxis CLI reads its RabbitMQ URL from ~/.config/praxis/config (key PRAXIS_RABBITMQ_URL) and falls back to amqp://praxis:praxis@localhost:5672 if no config is set.

praxis set-rabbitmqurl amqp://praxis:praxis@my-server:5672
praxis config         # show effective URL and config file path
praxis                # launch the interactive TUI
praxis --status       # one-shot connection check
praxis -C "node list" # one-shot command

There is no --rabbitmq flag and no PRAXIS_RABBITMQ_URL environment variable on the CLI — point users at praxis set-rabbitmqurl instead.

Getting Node Binaries

A native install lays down praxis_node_linux at /usr/local/share/praxis/nodes/. To also stage the Windows node binary alongside it, use --with-win-node (see above).

The praxis-bin AUR package ships both praxis_node_linux and praxis_node_windows.exe automatically. The same two binaries are available as standalone assets on every GitHub Release.

Running Nodes

chmod +x praxis_node
./praxis_node

By default, nodes connect to RabbitMQ at localhost:5672. Override per-node via the env var:

PRAXIS_RABBITMQ_URL=amqp://praxis:praxis@your-server:5672 ./praxis_node

Version Compatibility

Nodes must match the service version. The RabbitMQ message format can change between versions, so a v0.2 node talking to a v0.1 service might not work correctly.

Praxis Documentation