Installing pGenie on macOS¶

There are two ways to install pGenie on macOS: downloading a pre-built binary or building from source.

Option 1 — Pre-built Binary¶

Pre-built binaries for macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon) are available on the pGenie releases page.

Download the latest archive for your architecture from the releases page:

# Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/pgenie-io/pgenie/releases/latest/download/pgn-macos-arm64.tar.gz \
  -o pgn-macos-arm64.tar.gz

# Intel
curl -fsSL https://github.com/pgenie-io/pgenie/releases/latest/download/pgn-macos-x86_64.tar.gz \
  -o pgn-macos-x86_64.tar.gz

Extract the binary:

# Apple Silicon
tar -xzf pgn-macos-arm64.tar.gz

# Intel
tar -xzf pgn-macos-x86_64.tar.gz

Move the binary to a directory on your PATH:

# Apple Silicon
sudo mv pgn-macos-arm64 /usr/local/bin/pgn

# Intel
sudo mv pgn-macos-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/pgn

Verify the installation:
```
pgn --help
```

Gatekeeper warning¶

On first launch, macOS may show a dialog:

"pgn" can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software.

Why this appears: macOS Gatekeeper requires applications to be notarized by Apple. Pre-built binaries distributed outside the Mac App Store or without Apple notarization trigger this warning. The warning is a security feature of macOS, not evidence that the binary is malicious. You can inspect the source code at github.com/pgenie-io/pgenie and build from source if you prefer not to trust the binary distribution.

To bypass the warning:

Right-click (or Control-click) the pgn binary in Finder and choose Open, then confirm in the dialog that appears. After doing this once, macOS remembers the exception.

Or, run the following in your terminal to remove the quarantine attribute:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/pgn

If you prefer to verify the binary yourself before running it, build from source (see below).

Option 2 — From Source¶

Building from source gives you full control and avoids the Gatekeeper warning.

Stack¶

Stack manages the compiler and dependencies entirely on its own, making it the fastest path to building pGenie from source. No separate toolchain installation is required.

Install Stack¶

Run the official one-line installer:

curl -sSL https://get.haskellstack.org/ | sh

For platform-specific instructions and alternative install methods, see the official Stack installation guide.

Build and install pGenie¶

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/pgenie-io/pgenie.git
cd pgenie

Install the pgn executable:
```
stack install
```
Stack will download the required GHC version automatically if needed, compile pGenie, and install the pgn binary into ~/.local/bin/.
Ensure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH. Add the following to your shell profile (.zshrc, .bashrc, etc.):
```
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
```
Verify the installation:
```
pgn --help
```

Cabal¶

Cabal is the standard Haskell build tool. It requires a GHC compiler to be installed separately, which you can obtain via GHCup.

Prerequisites¶

Install the Haskell toolchain via GHCup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://get-ghcup.haskell.org | sh

Follow the prompts. GHCup will install GHC and Cabal.

Build and install pGenie¶

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/pgenie-io/pgenie.git
cd pgenie

Install the pgn executable:
```
cabal install
```
Cabal will compile pGenie and install the pgn binary into ~/.cabal/bin/.
Ensure ~/.cabal/bin is on your PATH. Add the following to your shell profile (.zshrc, .bashrc, etc.):
```
export PATH="$HOME/.cabal/bin:$PATH"
```
Verify the installation:
```
pgn --help
```

Docker Requirement¶

Docker must be running before invoking pgn. With Docker Desktop, the Docker icon should appear in the macOS menu bar. With Colima, ensure you have run colima start.