Getting Kobweb

The first step for starting with Kobweb is to get the Kobweb binary. You can install it, download it, and/or build it, so we'll include instructions for all these approaches.

When in doubt, we recommend installation via one of the package managers we support.

Install the Kobweb binary

Homebrew

OS: Mac and Linux

$ brew install varabyte/tap/kobweb

Scoop

OS: Windows

# Note: Adding buckets only has to be done once.

# Feel free to skip java if you already have it
> scoop bucket add java
> scoop install java/openjdk

# Install kobweb
> scoop bucket add varabyte https://github.com/varabyte/scoop-varabyte.git
> scoop install varabyte/kobweb

SDKMAN!

OS: Windows, Mac, and *nix

$ sdk install kobweb

Arch Linux

With an AUR helper, e.g.:

$ yay -S kobweb
$ paru -S kobweb
$ trizen -S kobweb
# etc.

Without an AUR helper:

$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/kobweb.git
$ cd kobweb
$ makepkg -si

Don't see your favorite package manager?

Please visit https://github.com/varabyte/kobweb-cli/issues/11 and consider leaving a comment!

Download the Kobweb binary

Our binary artifact is hosted on GitHub. To download latest, you can either grab the zip or tar file from the GitHub or you can fetch it from your terminal:

$ cd /path/to/applications

# You can either pull down the zip file

$ wget https://github.com/varabyte/kobweb-cli/releases/download/v0.9.18/kobweb-0.9.18.zip
$ unzip kobweb-0.9.18.zip

# ... or the tar file

$ wget https://github.com/varabyte/kobweb-cli/releases/download/v0.9.18/kobweb-0.9.18.tar
$ tar -xvf kobweb-0.9.18.tar

and I recommend adding it to your path, either directly:

$ PATH=$PATH:/path/to/applications/kobweb-0.9.18/bin
$ kobweb version # to check it's working

or via symbolic link:

$ cd /path/to/bin # some folder you've created that's in your PATH
$ ln -s /path/to/applications/kobweb-0.9.18/bin/kobweb kobweb

Build the Kobweb binary

Although we host Kobweb artifacts on GitHub, it is easy enough to build your own.

Building Kobweb requires JDK11 or newer. We'll first discuss how to add that, but you can skip this step if you have already done this on your machine.

Download a JDK

If you want full control over your JDK install, manually downloading is a fine option.

• Download a JDK for your OS
• Unzip it somewhere
• Update your JAVA_HOME variable to point at it.

JAVA_HOME=/path/to/jdks/corretto-11.0.12
# ... or whatever version or path you chose

Install a JDK with the IntelliJ IDE

For a more automated approach, you can request IntelliJ to install a JDK for you.

Follow their instructions here: https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/sdk.html#set-up-jdk

Compile the source

The Kobweb CLI is actually maintained in a separate GitHub repo. Once you have the JDK set up, it should be easy to clone and build it:

$ cd /path/to/src/root # some folder you've created for storing src code
$ git clone https://github.com/varabyte/kobweb-cli
$ cd kobweb-cli
$ ./gradlew :kobweb:installDist

Finally, update your PATH:

$ PATH=$PATH:/path/to/src/root/kobweb-cli/kobweb/build/install/kobweb/bin
$ kobweb version # to check it's working

Update the Kobweb binary

If you previously installed Kobweb and are aware that a new version is available, the way you update it depends on how you installed it.