zipget-rs

A tool for downloading and extracting files from URLs, GitHub releases, and S3 buckets, with caching and a TOML recipe format.

Features

• Caching: Files are cached by URL hash to avoid re-downloading
• Multi-Format Archive Support: Extract both ZIP and tar.gz (.tgz) archives automatically
• GitHub Releases Integration: Download latest or specific tagged releases from GitHub repositories
• S3 Support: Download files from AWS S3 buckets using s3:// URLs
• Semantic TOML Recipes: Process multiple downloads from TOML recipes with meaningful section names
• Version Management: Automatically upgrade GitHub releases to latest versions
• Flexible Output: Extract to directories and/or save files with custom names
• Direct Execution: Download and run executables directly with the run command
• Cross-Platform Installation: Install executables to ~/.local/bin on macOS, Linux and Windows (Windows uses shims unless --no-shim is given)
• Java JAR Support: Download and create launchers for Java JAR applications
• Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Installation

Linux / macOS

sudo curl -fsSL https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs/releases/latest/download/zipget-linux-x64-musl -o /usr/local/bin/zipget && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/zipget

For Linux ARM64:

sudo curl -fsSL https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs/releases/latest/download/zipget-linux-arm64-musl -o /usr/local/bin/zipget && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/zipget

For macOS ARM (Apple Silicon):

curl -fsSL https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs/releases/latest/download/zipget-macos-arm64 -o ~/.local/bin/zipget && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/zipget

Windows (PowerShell)

iwr https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs/releases/latest/download/zipget-windows-x64.exe -OutFile ~/.local/bin/zipget.exe

Self-Update

Once installed, zipget can update itself:

zipget update

GitHub Actions

- name: Install zipget
  run: |
    curl -fsSL https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs/releases/latest/download/zipget-linux-x64-musl -o /usr/local/bin/zipget
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/zipget

- name: Download tools
  run: zipget recipe tools.toml

For Windows runners:

- name: Install zipget
  run: |
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs/releases/latest/download/zipget-windows-x64.exe" -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin\zipget.exe"
    echo "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_PATH -Append

For macOS runners (ARM):

- name: Install zipget
  run: |
    curl -fsSL https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs/releases/latest/download/zipget-macos-arm64 -o /usr/local/bin/zipget
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/zipget

From Source

git clone https://github.com/vivainio/zipget-rs
cd zipget-rs
cargo build --release

The binary will be available at target/release/zipget.

Quick Start

# Download from TOML recipe
zipget recipe demo_recipe.toml

# Download from GitHub releases (auto-detects best binary for your platform)
zipget github sharkdp/bat --unzip-to ./tools

# Download and run executables directly
zipget run BurntSushi/ripgrep -- --version

# Install tools to ~/.local/bin (macOS/Linux copy the binary; Windows creates a shim)
zipget install google/go-jsonnet

# Install tools directly on Windows too (skip the shim)
zipget install google/go-jsonnet --no-shim

# Create launcher for a Java JAR
zipget shim ./myapp.jar

Commands

Install Command

Install executables from packages to your local system:

# Install sharkdp/bat - copies to ~/.local/bin on macOS/Linux, creates a shim on Windows
zipget install sharkdp/bat

# Install directly to ~/.local/bin on every platform, including Windows
zipget install sharkdp/bat --no-shim

# Install specific executable from multi-binary package
zipget install google/go-jsonnet --exe jsonnet --no-shim

# Install from specific release tag
zipget install sharkdp/bat --tag v0.24.0 --no-shim

# Install from direct URL
zipget install https://example.com/tool.zip --no-shim

Shims vs Direct Installation:

• macOS and Linux: Executables are always copied directly to ~/.local/bin, so --no-shim is accepted but changes nothing. Make sure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH (zipget warns if it is not).
• Windows: By default a shim is created in ~/.local/bin pointing at a copy under the programs folder. --no-shim copies the executable to ~/.local/bin instead.
• JAR files: Always get a launcher script, on every platform.

Shim Command

Create launchers/shims for executables or Java JAR files:

# Create a launcher for a JAR file
zipget shim ./plantuml.jar

# Create with a custom name
zipget shim ./plantuml.jar --name plantuml

# Create with Java options (for JARs)
zipget shim ./myapp.jar --java-opts="-Xmx1g -Xms256m"

# Create a shim for a native executable
zipget shim ./mytool

How it works:

• For JAR files: Creates a shell script (Unix) or batch file (Windows) that runs java -jar
• For executables: Creates a shell script wrapper (Unix) or Scoop-style shim (Windows)
• Launchers are created in ~/.local/bin

Generated JAR launcher (Unix):

#!/bin/sh
exec java -Xmx1g -jar "/path/to/myapp.jar" "$@"

Generated JAR launcher (Windows):

@java -Xmx1g -jar "C:\path\to\myapp.jar" %*

Recipe Command

Process a TOML recipe file to download and extract multiple packages:

# Process a TOML recipe file
zipget recipe my_recipe.toml

# Upgrade all GitHub releases in recipe to latest versions
zipget recipe my_recipe.toml --upgrade

# Process only specific items by their section names (tags)
zipget recipe my_recipe.toml ripgrep

# Exclude specific items
zipget recipe my_recipe.toml --exclude aws-cli

# Override a variable (see Recipe Variables below)
zipget recipe my_recipe.toml --set goarch=arm64

# Show how variables expand, without downloading anything
zipget recipe my_recipe.toml --dry

# Pin each entry to its resolved release tag and SHA-256, rewriting the recipe
zipget recipe my_recipe.toml --lock

Recipe Variables

Recipes can declare variables in a [vars] section and reference them as ${name} anywhere in a string field, including url, github.asset, save_as and unzip_to:

[vars]
bin_dir = "~/.local/bin"
go_version = "1.25.0"

[go]
url = "https://go.dev/dl/go${go_version}.${os}-${goarch}.tar.gz"
unzip_to = "${bin_dir}"

These variables are always available, so a recipe can adapt to the host without declaring anything:

Values resolve by priority, highest first:

1. --set key=value on the command line (repeatable)
2. The recipe's [vars] section
3. The built-in variables above

So a recipe can pin ${arch} in [vars] to force one architecture, and a caller can override any variable at the command line without editing the file.

Two further forms are supported:

• ${env.VAR} reads an environment variable, and fails if it is not set
• $${literal} escapes the substitution, producing a literal ${literal}

A leading ~/ expands to the home directory. Referencing an undefined variable is an error, so a typo fails the run rather than silently expanding to an empty string. Use --dry to print the fully expanded recipe before downloading:

$ zipget recipe linux-tools.toml --dry --set goarch=arm64
Active variables:
  arch = aarch64
  goarch = arm64

Note that --lock records the URL after substitution, so a lock file written on one machine pins that machine's architecture. Lock a recipe that uses ${arch} once per architecture, or keep the locked and templated recipes separate.

GitHub Command

Download the latest release binary from a GitHub repository:

# Download latest release (auto-detects best binary for your platform)
zipget github sharkdp/bat

# Download specific tagged release
zipget github sharkdp/bat --tag v0.24.0

# Save to specific file path
zipget github BurntSushi/ripgrep --save-as ./tools/ripgrep.zip

# Manually specify asset if needed (rarely required)
zipget github sharkdp/bat --asset windows-x86_64

Run Command

Download and run an executable from a package:

# Run a single executable from a GitHub release
zipget run BurntSushi/ripgrep -- --version

# Run a specific executable if multiple are found
zipget run sharkdp/bat --exe bat -- --help

# Run from a direct URL
zipget run https://example.com/tool.zip --exe mytool -- arg1 arg2

The run command:

• Downloads and caches the package (honoring existing cache)
• Extracts the package to a temporary directory
• Automatically finds executable files in the extracted content
• If only one executable is found, runs it directly
• If multiple executables are found, prompts you to specify which one using --exe
• Passes all arguments after -- to the executable
• Cleans up temporary files after execution

Recipe Format

Zipget uses TOML recipe files with semantic section names. Each section name becomes an implicit tag for that download item:

[bat]
github = { repo = "sharkdp/bat", tag = "v0.24.0" }
unzip_to = "./tools"
save_as = "./downloads/bat.zip"
files = "*.exe"

[ripgrep]
github = { repo = "BurntSushi/ripgrep" }
save_as = "./tools/ripgrep.zip"

[public-tool]
url = "https://example.com/some-file.zip"
unzip_to = "./downloads"

Recipe Schema

Each section represents a download item and can have:

• url: Direct URL to download from (supports HTTP/HTTPS, S3 URLs, and local file paths starting with / or .)
• github: GitHub release specification (inline table format)
  • repo: Repository in "owner/repo" format
  • asset: Regex pattern to match release asset names (case-insensitive; optional, auto-detected if not specified)
  • tag: Specific release tag (optional, defaults to latest)
• unzip_to: Directory where archives should be extracted (supports ZIP and tar.gz files)
• save_as: Path where the downloaded file should be saved
• files: Glob pattern for files to extract from archives (extracts all if not specified)
• profile: AWS profile to use for S3 downloads
• executable: Set to true to add executable permission to extracted files (Unix only)
• install_exes: List of executables or JAR files to install to ~/.local/bin (supports glob patterns)
• no_shim: Set to true to copy executables directly instead of creating shims/launchers
• install: Installer to run on a downloaded Python wheel (.whl): uv-tool (uv tool install --force), uv-pip (uv pip install), pip (python -m pip install (python3 on Linux/macOS)) or pipx (pipx install --force). Cannot be combined with install_exes

Python wheels from GitHub releases

[mytool]
github = { repo = "owner/repo", asset = "mytool-.*-py3-none-any\\.whl" }
install = "uv-tool"

Asset auto-detection doesn't understand wheel tags, so set asset explicitly when a release has several wheels.

Java JAR Support

Zipget can download Java JAR applications and create launcher scripts for them.

Installing JARs from Recipes

[plantuml]
github = { repo = "plantuml/plantuml", asset = "plantuml.jar" }
save_as = "./tools/plantuml.jar"
install_exes = ["plantuml.jar"]

This will:

1. Download plantuml.jar from the GitHub release
2. Save it to ./tools/plantuml.jar
3. Create a launcher at ~/.local/bin/plantuml

Installing JARs with the Shim Command

curl -LO https://github.com/plantuml/plantuml/releases/latest/download/plantuml.jar
zipget shim ./plantuml.jar
# Now you can run: plantuml -version

JARs with Custom Java Options

zipget shim ./memory-intensive-app.jar --java-opts="-Xmx4g -XX:+UseG1GC"

GitHub Integration

Latest Releases

[bat]
github = { repo = "sharkdp/bat" }

Specific Versions

[bat]
github = { repo = "sharkdp/bat", tag = "v0.24.0" }

Manual Asset Selection (Optional)

The asset field is a regex pattern (case-insensitive) matched against release asset names:

[bat]
# Simple substring match (still works — valid regex)
github = { repo = "sharkdp/bat", asset = "windows-x86_64", tag = "v0.24.0" }

[obsidian]
# Regex to select amd64 tarball, excluding arm64 variant
github = { repo = "obsidianmd/obsidian-releases", asset = "^obsidian-[\\d.]+\\.tar\\.gz$" }

Version Upgrading

zipget recipe my_recipe.toml --upgrade

This will:

• Check the latest release for each GitHub repository
• Update tags to the latest version
• Save the updated recipe file
• Show which versions were upgraded

How It Works

1. Caching: Each URL is hashed using MD5, and the downloaded file is stored as {hash}_{filename} in a system temporary cache directory (%TEMP%\zipget-cache on Windows, /tmp/zipget-cache on Unix)
2. Cache Check: Before downloading, zipget checks if the file already exists in the cache directory
3. GitHub API: For GitHub releases, the tool queries the GitHub API to get download URLs
4. S3 Downloads: For S3 URLs, the tool uses AWS CLI (aws s3 cp) to download files using your configured credentials
5. Download: If not cached, the file is downloaded and stored in the cache directory
6. Extract: If unzip_to is specified, the archive is extracted to the target directory (auto-detects ZIP and tar.gz formats)
7. Save: If save_as is specified, the downloaded file is copied to the specified path
8. Run: The run command additionally extracts to a temporary directory, finds executables, and executes them with provided arguments

Selective File Extraction

Use the files field to extract only specific files from archives using glob patterns.

When files is specified, the directory structure is flattened — files are extracted directly to unzip_to without preserving subdirectories:

[ripgrep]
# Archive contains: ripgrep-15.1.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/rg
# Result: ./tools/rg (flattened, not ./tools/ripgrep-15.1.0-.../rg)
github = { repo = "BurntSushi/ripgrep", asset = "x86_64-unknown-linux-musl" }
unzip_to = "./tools"
files = "*/rg"

[bat-windows]
github = { repo = "sharkdp/bat", asset = "windows" }
unzip_to = "./tools"
files = "{bat.exe,LICENSE*}"

Common glob patterns:

• *.exe - Extract only .exe files
• *.{exe,dll} - Extract .exe and .dll files
• */rg - Extract rg binary from any subdirectory (flattened)
• {LICENSE,README*} - Extract LICENSE and README files

Setting Executable Permissions (Unix)

Use the executable field to automatically set executable permissions on extracted files:

[my-scripts]
url = "/path/to/scripts.tar.gz"
unzip_to = "./bin"
files = "*.sh"
executable = true

Local file paths (starting with / or .) are also supported in the url field.

License

MIT License

System packages in recipes

On Debian and Ubuntu, a recipe can declare apt packages alongside downloaded tools:

[system_packages]
apt = ["git", "curl", "build-essential"]

[my-tool]
github = { repo = "owner/repo", asset = "tool-linux.tar.gz" }
unzip_to = "~/.local/bin"

Run sudo "$(command -v zipget)" recipe tools.toml --system-only to install missing apt packages. Zipget checks each package with dpkg-query and runs apt-get update and apt-get install only when needed. Then run zipget recipe tools.toml as the regular user to install the downloaded tools. A regular recipe run also checks system packages and reports when sudo is needed.