# Install

> Install the chamoji CLI with npm, or run it with npx. It needs Node.js 22 or newer and git.

Source: https://www.chamoji.dev/docs/install

Install the CLI once with npm, or run it with npx when you need it. Either way it needs Node.js 22 or newer and git.

## Install it

```bash title="npm"
npm i -g @chamoji/cli
```

```bash title="npx"
npx @chamoji/cli changelog
```

With npm, the command is `chamoji`. With npx, put `npx @chamoji/cli` where these pages say `chamoji`.

Check that it works:

```txt title="chamoji --version"
0.14.0
```

## Requirements

- **Node.js 22 or newer.**
- **git.** chamoji reads your history with the git on your PATH.
- **The full history,** for releases. In CI, check out with `fetch-depth: 0`. `chamoji release` unshallows a shallow clone and fetches tags first.

## The update notice

When a newer version is out, chamoji says so once, after your command finishes. This one is from 0.13.0, run with npx:

```txt title="stderr"
chamoji 0.14.0 is available (you have 0.13.0): run npx @chamoji/cli@latest
```

The last part depends on how you installed chamoji. It tells you to:

| Installed with | The notice ends with |
| --- | --- |
| `npm i -g` | `npm i -g @chamoji/cli@latest` |
| `pnpm add -g` | `pnpm add -g @chamoji/cli@latest` |
| `yarn global add` | `yarn global add @chamoji/cli@latest` |
| `npx` | `run npx @chamoji/cli@latest` |
| `pnpm dlx`, `yarn dlx`, `bunx` | `run it with @chamoji/cli@latest` |
| a dependency in your `package.json` | `update @chamoji/cli in package.json` |

- **What it sends:** at most one request a day, to `registry.npmjs.org`, asking for the latest `@chamoji/cli` version. Nothing about you or your repo is sent.
- **It never slows a command down.** The check runs in the background, and its answer shows on a later run.
- **It never touches stdout,** so pipes, `--format json` and `$(chamoji next-version)` are unaffected.
- **It's off in CI, and whenever stderr isn't a terminal.** To turn it off yourself, use `--no-update-check`, `NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=1` or `CHAMOJI_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1`.
- **The cache** lives in `~/.config/chamoji/update-check.json`, or under `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` or `%APPDATA%`.

## Next

- [Quickstart](https://www.chamoji.dev/docs/quickstart.md): Your first changelog and your first release.
- [Environment](https://www.chamoji.dev/docs/reference/environment.md): Every environment variable chamoji reads.