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---
title: 'How to Install BMad'
description: Install, update, and pin BMad for local development, teams, and CI
sidebar:
order: 1
---
Use `npx bmad-method install` to set up BMad in your project. One command handles first installs, upgrades, channel switching, and scripted CI runs. This page covers all of it.
## When to Use This
- Starting a new project with BMad
- Adding or removing modules on an existing install
- Switching a module to main-HEAD or pinning to a specific release
- Scripting installs for CI pipelines, Dockerfiles, or enterprise rollouts
:::note[Prerequisites]
- **Node.js** 20+ (the installer requires it)
- **Git** (for cloning external modules)
- **An AI tool** such as Claude Code or Cursor (run `npx bmad-method install --list-tools` to see all supported tools)
:::
## First-time install (the fast path)
```bash
npx bmad-method install
```
The interactive flow asks you five things:
1. Installation directory (defaults to the current working directory)
2. Which modules to install (checkboxes for core, bmm, bmb, cis, gds, tea)
3. **"Ready to install (all stable)?"** — Yes accepts the latest released tag for every external module
4. Which AI tools/IDEs to integrate with (claude-code, cursor, and others)
5. Per-module config (name, language, output folder)
Accept the defaults and you land on the latest stable release of every module, configured for your chosen tool.
:::tip[Just want the newest prerelease?]
```bash
npx bmad-method@next install
```
Runs the prerelease installer, which ships a newer snapshot of core and bmm. More churn, fewer delays between development and release.
:::
## Picking a specific version
Two independent axes control what ends up on disk.
### Axis 1: external module channels
Every external module — bmb, cis, gds, tea, and any community module — installs on one of three channels:
| Channel | What gets installed | Who picks this |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `stable` (default) | Highest released semver tag. Prereleases like `v2.0.0-alpha.1` are excluded. | Most users |
| `next` | Main branch HEAD at install time | Contributors, early adopters |
| `pinned` | A specific tag you name | Enterprise installs, CI reproducibility |
Channels are per-module. You can run bmb on `next` while leaving cis on `stable` — the flags below let you mix freely.
### Axis 2: installer binary version
The `bmad-method` npm package itself has two dist-tags:
| Command | What you get |
| ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `npx bmad-method install` (`@latest`) | Latest stable installer release |
| `npx bmad-method@next install` | Latest prerelease installer, auto-published on every push to main |
**The installer binary determines your core and bmm versions.** Those two modules ship bundled inside the installer package rather than being cloned from separate repos.
### Why core and bmm don't have their own channel
They're stapled to the installer binary you ran:
- `npx bmad-method install` → latest stable core and bmm
- `npx bmad-method@next install` → prerelease core and bmm
- `node /path/to/local-checkout/tools/installer/bmad-cli.js install` → whatever your local checkout has
`--pin bmm=v6.3.0` and `--next=bmm` are silently ineffective against bundled modules, and the installer warns you when you try. A future release extracts bmm from the installer package; once that ships, bmm gets a proper channel selector like bmb has today.
## Updating an existing install
Running `npx bmad-method install` in a directory that already contains `_bmad/` gives you a menu:
| Choice | What it does |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Quick Update** | Re-runs the install with your existing settings. Refreshes files, applies patches and minor stable upgrades, refuses major upgrades. Fast, non-interactive. |
| **Modify Install** | Full interactive flow. Add or remove modules, reconfigure settings, optionally review and switch channels for existing modules. |
### Upgrade prompts
When Modify detects a newer stable tag for a module you've installed on `stable`, it classifies the diff and prompts accordingly:
| Upgrade type | Example | Default |
| ------------ | --------------- | ------- |
| Patch | v1.7.0 → v1.7.1 | Y |
| Minor | v1.7.0 → v1.8.0 | Y |
| Major | v1.7.0 → v2.0.0 | **N** |
Major defaults to N because breaking changes frequently surface as "instability" when they weren't expected. The prompt includes a GitHub release-notes URL so you can read what changed before accepting.
Under `--yes`, patch and minor upgrades apply automatically. Majors stay frozen — pass `--pin <code>=<new-tag>` to accept non-interactively.
### Switching a module's channel
**Interactively:** choose Modify → answer **Yes** to "Review channel assignments?" → each external module offers Keep, Switch to stable, Switch to next, or Pin to a tag.
**Via flags:** the recipes in the next section cover the common cases.
## Headless CI installs
### Flag reference
| Flag | Purpose |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--yes`, `-y` | Skip all prompts; accept flag values + defaults |
| `--directory <path>` | Install into this directory (default: current working dir) |
| `--modules <a,b,c>` | Exact module set. Core is auto-added. Not a delta — list everything you want kept. |
| `--tools <a,b>` | IDE/tool selection. Required for fresh `--yes` installs. Run `--list-tools` for valid IDs. |
| `--list-tools` | Print all supported tool/IDE IDs (with target directories) and exit. |
| `--action <type>` | `install`, `update`, or `quick-update`. Defaults based on existing install state. |
| `--custom-source <urls>` | Install custom modules from Git URLs or local paths |
| `--channel <stable\|next>` | Apply to all externals (aliased as `--all-stable` / `--all-next`) |
| `--all-stable` | Alias for `--channel=stable` |
| `--all-next` | Alias for `--channel=next` |
| `--next=<code>` | Put one module on next. Repeatable. |
| `--pin <code>=<tag>` | Pin one module to a specific tag. Repeatable. |
| `--set <module>.<key>=<value>` | Set any module config option non-interactively (preferred — see [Module config overrides](#module-config-overrides)). Repeatable. |
| `--list-options [module]` | Print every `--set` key for built-in and locally-cached official modules, then exit. Pass a module code to scope to one module. |
| `--user-name`, `--communication-language`, `--document-output-language`, `--output-folder` | Legacy shortcuts equivalent to `--set core.<key>=<value>` (still supported) |
Precedence when flags overlap: `--pin` beats `--next=` beats `--channel` / `--all-*` beats the registry default (`stable`).
:::note[Example resolution]
`--all-next --pin cis=v0.2.0` puts bmb, gds, and tea on next while pinning cis to v0.2.0.
:::
### Recipes
**Default install — latest stable for everything:**
```bash
npx bmad-method install --yes --modules bmm,bmb,cis --tools claude-code
```
**Enterprise pin — reproducible byte-for-byte:**
```bash
npx bmad-method install --yes \
--modules bmm,bmb,cis \
--pin bmb=v1.7.0 --pin cis=v0.2.0 \
--tools claude-code
```
**Bleeding edge — externals on main HEAD:**
```bash
npx bmad-method install --yes --modules bmm,bmb --all-next --tools claude-code
```
**Add a module to an existing install** (keep everything else):
```bash
npx bmad-method install --yes --action update \
--modules bmm,bmb,gds
```
`--tools` is omitted intentionally — `--action update` reuses the tools configured during the first install.
**Mix channels — bmb on next, gds on stable:**
```bash
npx bmad-method install --yes --action update \
--modules bmm,bmb,cis,gds \
--next=bmb
```
### Module config overrides
`--set <module>.<key>=<value>` is the preferred way to provide answers that would otherwise be asked interactively. It's repeatable, scales to every module, and survives across upgrades because the values land in `_bmad/config.toml` next to the rest of your install state.
**Example — install bmm without using `docs/` for project knowledge:**
```bash
npx bmad-method install --yes \
--modules bmm \
--tools claude-code \
--set bmm.project_knowledge=research \
--set bmm.user_skill_level=expert
```
**Discover available keys for a module:**
```bash
npx bmad-method install --list-options bmm
```
`--list-options` (no argument) lists every key the installer can find locally — built-in modules (`core`, `bmm`) plus any external officials that have been installed at least once on this machine. Community and custom modules aren't enumerated here; read the module's `module.yaml` directly to see what keys it declares.
**Validation rules:**
- `<module>` must be in `--modules` (or core, which is always installed). Setting a value for a module you didn't include prints a warning and the value is ignored.
- `<key>` is matched against the module's `module.yaml` declarations. An unknown key prints a warning but still gets persisted to `config.toml` — useful for forward-compatibility or for community modules whose schema isn't validated here.
- `single-select` values are not validated against the allowed choices. The value lands in config as-is, even if it falls outside the module's enumeration.
The legacy core shortcuts (`--user-name`, `--output-folder`, etc.) still work and remain documented for backward compatibility, but `--set core.user_name=...` is equivalent and uses the same code path.
:::note[Quick-update is unaffected]
`bmad install --action quick-update` preserves the existing `config.toml` answers as-is. `--set` flags passed alongside `--action quick-update` are silently ignored. To change a stored value, run `bmad install --action update` (or just `bmad install`) instead.
:::
:::caution[Rate limit on shared IPs]
Anonymous GitHub API calls are capped at 60/hour per IP. A single install hits the API once per external module to resolve the stable tag. Offices behind NAT, CI runner pools, and VPNs can collectively exhaust this.
Set `GITHUB_TOKEN=<personal access token>` in the environment to raise the limit to 5000/hour per account. Any public-repo-read PAT works; no scopes are required.
:::
## What got installed
After any install, `_bmad/_config/manifest.yaml` records exactly what's on disk:
```yaml
modules:
- name: bmb
version: v1.7.0 # the tag, or "main" for next
channel: stable # stable | next | pinned
sha: 86033fc9aeae2ca6d52c7cdb675c1f4bf17fc1c1
source: external
repoUrl: https://github.com/bmad-code-org/bmad-builder
```
The `sha` field is written for git-backed modules (external, community, and URL-based custom). Bundled modules (core, bmm) and local-path custom modules don't have one — their code travels with the installer binary or your filesystem, not a cloneable ref.
For cross-machine reproducibility, don't rely on rerunning the same `--modules` command. Stable-channel installs resolve to the highest released tag **at install time**, so a later rerun lands on whatever has been released since. Convert the recorded tags from `manifest.yaml` into explicit `--pin` flags on the target machine, e.g.:
```bash
npx bmad-method install --yes --modules bmb,cis \
--pin bmb=v1.7.0 --pin cis=v0.4.2 --tools claude-code
```
## Troubleshooting
### "Could not resolve stable tag" or "API rate limit exceeded"
You've hit GitHub's 60/hr anonymous limit. Set `GITHUB_TOKEN` and retry. If you already have a token set, it may be expired or rate-limited on its own budget — try a different token or wait for the hourly reset.
### "Tag 'vX.Y.Z' not found"
The tag you passed to `--pin` doesn't exist in the module's repo. Check the repo's releases page on GitHub for valid tags.
### A pinned install keeps upgrading
Pinned installs don't upgrade. Quick-update applies patches and minors on stable channel only; it won't touch `pinned` or `next`. If a pinned install changed, open `_bmad/_config/manifest.yaml` — `channel: pinned` plus a fixed `version` and `sha` should hold across runs unless you explicitly override via flags.
### `--pin bmm=X` didn't do anything
bmm is a bundled module — `--pin` and `--next=` don't apply. Use `npx bmad-method@next install` for a prerelease core/bmm, or check out the bmad-bmm repo and run the installer locally to get unreleased changes.
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