geto

Effortless binary manager. Install, update, and organize standalone binaries pulled straight from release pages — no package manager, no build step.

geto downloads release assets from GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, HashiCorp releases, Docker images, or go install, picks the right artifact for your OS/arch, unpacks it if needed, and keeps track of what's installed so you can update everything in one command.

A hard fork of marcosnils/bin with a single tagged config, repo descriptions, and a full TUI.

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Install

go install github.com/bresilla/geto/src@latest

or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/bresilla/geto
cd geto
make build # produces ./geto

On first run, geto picks a download directory from your PATH (e.g. ~/.local/bin) and creates its config.

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Quick start

geto install github.com/sharkdp/bat # install (alias: add, i)
geto # launch the interactive TUI
geto list # plain table of everything
geto update # update the "default" tier
geto update bat # update a single binary
geto remove bat # uninstall (alias: rm, uninstall, delete)

Running geto with no arguments opens the TUI on a real terminal, and falls back to list when piped.

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Commands

Command	Aliases	What it does
install <url> [name|path]	add, i	Install a binary from a repo/URL
update [name…]	u	Update binaries (default tier, or named ones)
ensure [name…]	e	Reinstall anything missing or hash-mismatched
list	ls	Print a table of managed binaries
remove <name…>	rm, uninstall, delete	Delete the binary and forget it
prune		Forget entries whose files no longer exist
pin / unpin <name…>		Freeze / unfreeze a binary's version
tag …		Manage tags/tiers (see below)
describe [name…]		Fetch & store repository descriptions

Useful flags on update:

• --dry-run — report what would update, change nothing
• -y, --yes — skip the confirmation prompt
• -r, --recheck — re-prompt for asset selection instead of reusing the remembered choice
• -c, --continue-on-error — keep going if one binary fails

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Tags / tiers

Every binary has one or more tags. Untagged binaries belong to default. A persistent --tag/-t flag sets the tag context for any command:

geto install -t essential github.com/junegunn/fzf # install tagged "essential"
geto -t essential update # update only the "essential" tier
geto -t all list # everything, regardless of tag
geto update # == geto -t default update

• No --tag → acts on the default tier.
• --tag all → acts on every binary.

Change tags after the fact:

geto tag ls # list tags and counts
geto tag show bat # show a binary's tags
geto tag add essential bat fzf # add a tag
geto tag rm essential bat # remove a tag (falls back to "default")

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Repository descriptions

geto stores each repo's one-line description in the manifest so the TUI can show it offline. New installs fetch it automatically; backfill existing entries with:

geto -t all describe # fetch descriptions for everything missing one
geto describe --force bat # refetch even if already present

For private/rate-limited repos, export a token first (see Authentication).

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TUI

Run geto (no args) to open the interactive UI: a full-width list with two-line entries showing name, version + update status, repo, architecture, libc (musl/glibc/static), size, tags, and the repo description.

Key	Action
↑/↓, j/k, g/G	navigate
/	fuzzy filter
u	update selected
r	check all for updates
p	pin / unpin
e	edit entry (URL, provider, tags, description) in a popup
m	forget the saved asset/archive choice for the selected binary
o	open the repository in your browser (xdg-open)
d / x	remove (with confirmation)
t	cycle the tag scope
?	toggle full help
q	quit

Theming (config)

On first run geto writes a config file. Colors are terminal palette indexes (0–255) or hex — so pywal-style tools recolor geto automatically, and the 232..255 grayscale ramp gives subtle row shading:

# foreground colorsaccent = 1 text = 15 muted = 8
ok = 2 warn = 3 err = 9 tag = 6
# TUI row backgrounds (alternating + selected)row_bg = 232
row_bg_alt = 235
row_bg_selected = 237

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Files

File	Purpose
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/geto/list.json	Manifest — portable: path, url, provider, tags, description
$XDG_STATE_HOME/geto/config.state.json	State — per-machine: version, hash, package path, pinned, selected asset, cached description
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/geto/config	TUI colors

The manifest and per-machine state are kept separate so the manifest is safe to share or check into dotfiles. Config resolution honors $XDG_CONFIG_HOME, falling back to ~/.config/geto (or a legacy ~/.geto). When run as root without explicit overrides, geto reads /etc/geto/list.json, writes /var/lib/geto/config.state.json, and installs into /usr/local/bin.

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Providers

Provider	Example
GitHub	geto install github.com/cli/cli
GitLab	geto install gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli
Codeberg	geto install codeberg.org/lukeflo/bibiman
HashiCorp	geto install releases.hashicorp.com/terraform
Docker	geto install docker://hashicorp/terraform
go install	geto install goinstall://github.com/x/y

Asset selection scores candidates by OS/arch and filters out non-installable files (.sig, .sha256, .sbom, .deb, …). Your pick is remembered, so updates don't re-prompt unless the release's file layout changes (use update -r to force a re-pick).

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NixOS / Home Manager

geto ships a flake package plus NixOS and Home Manager modules. In Nix you write a normal list of repositories; the module generates list.json, then runs geto --tag all ensure. ensure downloads missing binaries and fills the mutable state file with versions, hashes, remembered asset choices, and cached repository descriptions.

{inputs.geto.url="github:bresilla/geto";outputs={nixpkgs,geto, ... }: {nixosConfigurations.host=nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem{system="x86_64-linux";modules=[geto.nixosModules.default{programs.geto={enable=true;entries=["github.com/rust-lang/mdBook"{repo="github.com/git-town/git-town";tag="essential";}{repo="github.com/atuinsh/atuin";name="atuin";tag="shell";}];};}];};};}

For Home Manager:

{imports=[inputs.geto.homeManagerModules.default];programs.geto={enable=true;entries=["github.com/rust-lang/mdBook"{repo="github.com/git-town/git-town";tag="essential";}];};}

The generated manifest is just regular geto config:

{
"default_path": "/usr/local/bin",
"bins": {
"/usr/local/bin/git-town": {
"path": "/usr/local/bin/git-town",
"url": "github.com/git-town/git-town",
"tags": ["essential"],
"patch": true
}
}
}

For the default root/system paths, create /etc/geto/list.json and run:

sudo geto --tag all ensure

You can also point geto at an explicit manifest/state/install directory:

GETO_CONFIG_FILE=/tmp/geto/list.json \
GETO_STATE_FILE=/tmp/geto/state.json \
GETO_DEFAULT_PATH=/tmp/geto/bin \
GETO_NONINTERACTIVE=1 \
geto --tag all ensure

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Authentication

Set as needed in your environment:

• GITHUB_AUTH_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN — GitHub API (avoids the 60 req/hr unauthenticated limit)
• CODEBERG_TOKEN — Codeberg
• GHES_BASE_URL, GHES_UPLOAD_URL, GHES_AUTH_TOKEN — GitHub Enterprise

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Development

make build # build ./geto (version-stamped)
make install # install to $PREFIX/bin (default ~/.local/bin)
make run ARGS='list -t all'
make test# go test ./...
make verify # fmt-check + vet + test
make release TYPE=minor # cut a release via git-rel
make help# list all targets

License & credits

MIT — see LICENSE. geto is a hard fork of marcosnils/bin; see ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.md.