Installation

Prerequisites

bwenv requires two things:

Tool	Why	Install link
direnv	Automatically loads/unloads env vars when you `cd` into a directory	direnv.net
Password manager CLI (at least one)	Fetches secrets from your vault	See below

Password Manager CLIs

Provider	CLI	Install link
Bitwarden	`bw`	bitwarden.com/help/cli
1Password	`op`	developer.1password.com/docs/cli

No jq needed. bwenv v2 is a single Go binary — no extra dependencies.

Install bwenv

Quick Install (Recommended)

macOS / Linux — one-line install via curl:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/s1ks1/bwenv/main/install.sh | sh

Or with wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/s1ks1/bwenv/main/install.sh | sh

Windows — one-line install via PowerShell:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/s1ks1/bwenv/main/install.ps1 | iex

Both scripts auto-detect your OS and architecture, download the latest release, verify checksums, and install to ~/.local/bin.

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

brew tap s1ks1/bwenv
brew install bwenv

Scoop (Windows)

scoop bucket add bwenv https://github.com/s1ks1/scoop-bwenv
scoop install bwenv

Go Install

go install github.com/s1ks1/bwenv@latest

Requires Go 1.22+.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/s1ks1/bwenv.git
cd bwenv
make install    # Builds and installs to ~/.local/bin

Direct Download

Download the latest binary for your platform from the Releases page, extract it, and place bwenv somewhere in your PATH.

Post-Install Setup

Configure direnv Hook

direnv needs to be hooked into your shell. This is a one-time setup.

Bash — add to ~/.bashrc:

eval "$(direnv hook bash)"

Zsh — add to ~/.zshrc:

eval "$(direnv hook zsh)"

Fish — add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

direnv hook fish | source

PowerShell — add to $PROFILE:

Invoke-Expression "$(direnv hook pwsh)"

After adding the hook, restart your terminal or source your shell config.

Verify Installation

bwenv status

This shows:

Whether direnv is installed and its hook is configured
Which password manager CLIs are available
Current session states
Configuration preferences

Platform-Specific Notes

macOS

# Install all prerequisites at once
brew install direnv
brew install bitwarden-cli          # Bitwarden
brew install --cask 1password-cli   # 1Password

# Install bwenv
brew tap s1ks1/bwenv
brew install bwenv

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y direnv

# Bitwarden CLI
sudo snap install bw

# 1Password CLI (optional)
curl -sS https://downloads.1password.com/linux/keys/1password.asc | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor --output /usr/share/keyrings/1password-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/1password-archive-keyring.gpg] https://downloads.1password.com/linux/debian/$(dpkg --print-architecture) stable main" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/1password.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y 1password-cli

# Install bwenv
go install github.com/s1ks1/bwenv@latest

Windows

# Using Scoop (recommended)
scoop install direnv
scoop install bitwarden-cli    # or: scoop install 1password-cli
scoop bucket add bwenv https://github.com/s1ks1/scoop-bwenv
scoop install bwenv

Troubleshooting

bwenv not found

Make sure the install directory is in your PATH:

# If installed via go install:
export PATH="$HOME/go/bin:$PATH"

# If installed via make install or curl installer:
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

direnv not activating

Ensure the direnv hook is added to your shell config and you’ve restarted your terminal:

bwenv status   # Check the "Dependencies" section

Permission denied

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/bwenv

Uninstall

Homebrew

brew uninstall bwenv
brew untap s1ks1/bwenv

Scoop

scoop uninstall bwenv
scoop bucket rm bwenv

Go install

rm -f $(go env GOPATH)/bin/bwenv

Clean up config

rm -rf ~/.config/bwenv

Remove .envrc from projects

bwenv remove    # In each project directory