Installation

Atkins ships as a single binary with no runtime dependencies. You can install it from source using Go, download a pre-built binary, or copy it from the official Docker image. Choose whichever method fits your environment.

From Source (Go)

If you have Go 1.27+ installed, this is the simplest method:

  go install github.com/titpetric/atkins@latest

The binary will be placed in your $GOPATH/bin directory.

Binary Release

Pre-built binaries are available for Linux amd64:

  1. Navigate to the Releases page
  2. Download the binary for your platform
  3. Install to your PATH:
  # Example for Linux amd64
curl -L https://github.com/titpetric/atkins/releases/latest/download/atkins-linux-amd64 -o /usr/local/bin/atkins
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/atkins

Docker

Atkins is available as titpetric/atkins:latest . You can copy the binary into your own images or run it directly.

Add it to your Dockerfile:

  COPY --from=titpetric/atkins:latest /usr/local/bin/atkins /usr/local/bin/atkins

Or run it directly:

  docker run --rm -v $PWD:/app titpetric/atkins -l

The image is built from alpine in docker/Dockerfile .

Verify Installation

After installation, verify Atkins is working:

  # Print version
atkins -v

# List tasks in current directory
atkins -l

# Run default task
atkins

Shebang Support (Linux/macOS)

On Unix systems, pipeline files can be made directly executable using a shebang line:

  #!/usr/bin/env atkins
name: My Script

tasks:
  default:
    steps:
      - run: echo "Hello from executable pipeline!"

Then:

  chmod +x my-pipeline.yml
./my-pipeline.yml

Atkins strips the shebang line before parsing, so the file remains valid YAML for other tools.

Running the CI/CD Server

The same binary hosts the optional CI/CD server. It needs a signing key and a database; sqlite is the default and needs nothing installed:

  atkins server --signing-key "$(openssl rand -hex 32)"

Migrations are applied on start. Attach a machine to it with:

  atkins --register https://ci.example.com   # first account becomes admin
atkins --login https://ci.example.com      # on every other machine

See CI/CD Server for configuration, the API and how agents claim jobs.

Next Steps