Installing Rust off Rails #

curl -fsSL https://rustoffrails.org/install.sh | sh

Read before you pipe: install.sh is about 300 lines of POSIX shell. Run it with --dry-run to print the plan and every command without changing anything. Here's exactly what it does, in order.

What the installer does #

1. Prints the plan for your OS and architecture. Nothing has happened yet.
2. Rust toolchain:
   • If cargo exists, it moves on.
   • If not, it asks first, then runs the official rustup installer (curl https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y). It never uses sudo.
3. Cargo tools used by the framework: sea-orm-cli (migrations), cargo-nextest (tests), cargo-watch (bin/dev). Only the missing ones are installed.
   • Preferred route: install cargo-binstall with its official script, then cargo binstall prebuilt binaries (seconds).
   • If that fails, it falls back to cargo install --locked (minutes) and warns you.
4. The framework:
   • Downloads rustoffrails.tar.gz and checksums.txt from the GitHub release: latest, or --version X.Y.Z.
   • Verifies the SHA-256 and refuses to install on a mismatch.
   • Unpacks to ~/.offrails/<version>/ and points ~/.offrails/current at it.
   • Re-running with the same release is a no-op.
5. The offrails command: copies ~/.offrails/current/tools/offrails to ~/.local/bin/offrails. If that directory isn't on your PATH, it tells you the exact line to add.
6. Coding agents:
   • If claude (Claude Code) is on your PATH, it adds the marketplace and installs the plugin: claude plugin marketplace add rust-off-rails/rustoffrails, then claude plugin install offrails@offrails --scope user. It skips this if the plugin is already installed.
   • For Codex, Cursor or any other agent, it prints the one-line prompt that points the agent at ~/.offrails/current/AGENTS.md.
7. Optional tools: it only detects Docker (local Postgres, image builds, deploys), Node 24 and pnpm (only for inertia/spa/islands apps). It doesn't install them.

It sends no telemetry. Output is coloured only on a terminal (set NO_COLOR=1 to disable). Any failure exits non-zero with a clear message.

Options #

Pass options through the pipe like this: curl -fsSL https://rustoffrails.org/install.sh | sh -s -- --dry-run.

The offrails command #

offrails new bookshelf "people track the books they've read"   # Claude Code: /offrails:new …; else Codex; else prints the prompt
offrails doctor                                                # table of prerequisites and versions
offrails version
offrails update [--version X.Y.Z]                              # re-runs the installer
offrails uninstall                                             # removes ~/.offrails and the command (not Rust, not your apps)
offrails <command> --help                                      # that command's help; never runs anything

new and upgrade start an agent (Claude Code, else opencode, else Codex; OFFRAILS_AGENT picks one). When stdin is not a terminal (CI, a script, another agent) they need --yes or OFFRAILS_YES=1; without it they print the agent command and exit 3. Exit codes: 0 ok, 1 error, 2 usage (unknown command or flag), 3 agent launch needs --yes, 10 upgrade --check found an upgrade due.

Manual install (same result, by hand) #

# 1. Rust + tools
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
cargo install --locked sea-orm-cli cargo-nextest cargo-watch

# 2. Framework (verify the checksum yourself)
V=0.3.0   # see https://github.com/rust-off-rails/rustoffrails/releases
curl -fsSLO https://github.com/rust-off-rails/rustoffrails/releases/download/v$V/rustoffrails.tar.gz
curl -fsSLO https://github.com/rust-off-rails/rustoffrails/releases/download/v$V/checksums.txt
shasum -a 256 -c checksums.txt --ignore-missing
mkdir -p ~/.offrails && tar -xmzf rustoffrails.tar.gz -C ~/.offrails && mv ~/.offrails/rustoffrails ~/.offrails/$V && ln -sfn $V ~/.offrails/current

# 3. Claude Code plugin (or skip and point any agent at ~/.offrails/current/AGENTS.md)
claude plugin marketplace add rust-off-rails/rustoffrails
claude plugin install offrails@offrails

You can also skip the installer entirely: clone the repo and tell your agent Read /path/to/rustoffrails/AGENTS.md and make me a new app called bookshelf.

Uninstall #

offrails uninstall, then optionally claude plugin uninstall offrails@offrails && claude plugin marketplace remove offrails. Rust and the cargo tools stay; remove them with rustup self uninstall if you want.