Installation

jolt is available for macOS and Linux through multiple installation methods.

Requirements

macOS

macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) or later
Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) or Intel Mac
Terminal emulator with 256-color support

Linux

Linux kernel 3.13+ (for RAPL power metrics)
Laptop with battery
Intel or AMD CPU
Terminal emulator with 256-color support

Install Script (Recommended)

The easiest way to install jolt on any platform:

curl -fsSL https://getjolt.sh/install.sh | bash

This script automatically:

Detects your OS (macOS or Linux) and architecture
Downloads the correct binary for your platform
Verifies checksums
Installs to ~/.local/bin

Homebrew (Coming Soon)

Homebrew support is planned but not yet available:

# Future release
brew install jordond/tap/jolt

Cargo

If you have Rust installed (works on both macOS and Linux):

cargo install jolt-tui

From Source

For the latest development version:

git clone https://github.com/jordond/jolt.git
cd jolt
cargo build --release

The binary will be at ./target/release/jolt. You can copy it to your PATH:

macOS/Linux:

cp ./target/release/jolt /usr/local/bin/
# or
cp ./target/release/jolt ~/.local/bin/

See cli/README.md for platform-specific build dependencies.

Verify Installation

After installing, verify jolt is working:

jolt --version

Then launch the TUI:

jolt

Linux Setup

On Linux, you’ll need to grant permissions for power metrics. See the Linux Permissions section below or the Troubleshooting page.

Linux Permissions

Power consumption metrics on Linux require read access to RAPL interfaces. Choose one option:

Option 1: Udev Rule (Recommended)

Create a persistent rule to make RAPL readable:

sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-rapl.rules << 'EOF'
SUBSYSTEM=="powercap", ACTION=="add", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'chmod o+r /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl/*/energy_uj /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl/*/*/energy_uj 2>/dev/null || true'"
EOF

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Option 2: Manual Permissions (Temporary)

Set permissions manually (resets on reboot):

sudo chmod o+r /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl/*/energy_uj
sudo chmod o+r /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl/*/*/energy_uj

Verify Setup

Check if you can read power metrics:

cat /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl/intel-rapl:0/energy_uj

If successful, you’ll see a number. If you get “Permission denied”, try the steps above again.

For detailed Linux setup information, see docs/linux-setup.md.

Next Steps

Continue to Quick Start for a 5-minute tour of jolt’s features.