---
title: CLI quickstart
description: Install the Ysra CLI, sign in, and get your first change made in a folder on your own machine — in about five minutes.
sidebar_title: Quickstart
---

Three steps: install, sign in, ask. Everything happens in your terminal, on a
folder you choose.

## First change in five minutes

<div class="steps" markdown>

### Install

On macOS or Linux:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://ysra.ai/install.sh | sh
```

The download is checked against its published checksum before anything is
installed, and it installs for your user only. Options, manual download and
Windows: [Install the CLI](../install/cli.md).

### Sign in

```bash
ysra login
```

Enter your Ysra email and password. Your sign-in is kept in the macOS Keychain,
or in a file only you can read on Linux.

### Open a folder

```bash
cd ~/code/billing-service
ysra
```

The folder you start me in is the folder I work on. The first time, I ask
whether you trust it. A folder without Git works too.

### Ask for something

Start with a question, so nothing changes yet:

```text
› explain how refunds are calculated
```

Then ask for a change:

```text
› add partial refunds: never more than the remaining balance, with a test
```

I read the code, make the change, run your checks, and show each step as it
happens. Nothing is committed.

### Keep it, or put it back

```text
/diff      see exactly what I changed
/commit    commit my changes on a branch
/undo      put everything back as it was
```

</div>

![The working timeline in the terminal during a change](../assets/screens/cli/timeline.webp){ width="1698" height="1450" }
/// caption
A change in progress: what I read, what I edited, a failing test, the repair.
///

## What I ask before doing

Inside your folder I work freely once you've asked for a change. I stop and ask
before deleting your files, before anything that reaches outside your computer
(a deploy, a push), and before installing or starting anything. See
[When I ask for your OK](guide.md#when-i-ask-for-your-ok).

## Next

<div class="cards" markdown>

- [**Work in a folder**](guide.md)

    The working timeline, approvals and auto mode in full.

- [**Commit, push and undo**](commit-push-undo.md)

    Branches, pushing, your CI read back, and exact undo.

- [**Devices**](../devices/overview.md)

    Work on a folder on a server or edge device.

- [**Command reference**](commands.md)

    Every command and slash command.

</div>