Install gjsify

Recommended: Node-free bootstrap (gjs ≥ 1.86)

curl -fsSL https://github.com/gjsify/gjsify/releases/latest/download/install.mjs \
  -o /tmp/g.mjs && gjs -m /tmp/g.mjs && rm /tmp/g.mjs

The install.mjs script is a tiny stock-GJS bootstrap (~250 LoC, only GLib / Gio / Soup 3) that:

1. Downloads the pinned cli.gjs.mjs bundle from the GitHub release.
2. Verifies its SHA-256 against a sidecar .sha256 asset.
3. Caches it under $XDG_CACHE_HOME/gjsify/bootstrap/.
4. Spawns gjs -m <bundle> install -g @gjsify/cli — the full CLI then handles transitive dependency resolution, native prebuilds, lockfile, and the ~/.local/bin/gjsify launcher.

After install:

• The CLI tree lives under ~/.local/share/gjsify/global/node_modules/.

• A POSIX sh launcher is written to ~/.local/bin/gjsify. Add that directory to your PATH if it isn’t already:

  export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Refresh in place

gjsify self-update         # install the latest release
gjsify self-update --check # check without installing
gjsify self-update --tag next   # opt into a different dist-tag

Pin a specific version

gjs -m /tmp/g.mjs --tag 0.4.10

--tag accepts npm dist-tags (latest, next) or pinned versions (0.4.10).

Custom install location

GJSIFY_GLOBAL_PREFIX=$HOME/.gjsify GJSIFY_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR=$HOME/.gjsify/bin \
  gjs -m /tmp/g.mjs

The install backend honors GJSIFY_GLOBAL_PREFIX (default ~/.local/share/gjsify/global) and GJSIFY_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR (default ~/.local/bin).

Alternative: npm install

npm install -g @gjsify/cli

Still fully supported. Choose this if you already manage developer tooling via npm and don’t mind keeping Node on the path.

Prerequisites

The bootstrap script requires:

• gjs ≥ 1.86 — bundled with Fedora 43+, Debian 13+, Arch
• curl (or wget) — universally available
• An internet connection for the initial bootstrap; subsequent installs and updates resolve from cache when possible.

If gjs is older than 1.86 the bootstrap aborts with a clear message pointing at install commands for the major distributions.

Uninstall

rm -rf ~/.local/share/gjsify ~/.local/bin/gjsify

The bootstrap cache at ~/.cache/gjsify/ is safe to delete at any time — the next install or update rebuilds it.