Installation

Install Vault as a .NET global tool or build from source

Vault requires .NET 9.0 or later to be installed on your system.

Prerequisites

Before installing Vault, ensure you have .NET 9.0 or later installed:

dotnet --version

If you need to install .NET, visit the official .NET download page.

Installation Methods

Global Tool (Recommended)

The easiest way to install Vault is as a .NET global tool. This makes the vault command available system-wide.

1. Install the tool

   Run the following command to install Vault globally:

   dotnet tool install --global Vault.10.25.25
   

   This will download and install the latest version of Vault from the NuGet package repository.

2. Verify installation

   Confirm that Vault is installed correctly by checking the version:

   vault list
   

   If this is your first time running Vault, you should see:

   (no keys)
   

   This confirms that Vault is working and has created your personal database.

3. Check database location

   Your vault database has been created at:

   Windows

   C:\Users\{username}\.kvstore\store.db
   

   The database directory (.kvstore) is automatically created in your home directory.

From Source

If you want to build Vault from source or contribute to development, you can clone and build the project.

1. Clone the repository

   Clone the Vault repository to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/tobibytes/Vault.git
   cd Vault
   
2. Build the project

   Build the project using the .NET CLI:

   dotnet build
   

   This will restore dependencies and compile the project.

3. Run from source

   You can run Vault directly from source using:

   dotnet run -- <command> <args>
   

   For example:

   dotnet run -- add mykey "my value"
   dotnet run -- list
   

   The -- separator is required to pass arguments to the application rather than to the dotnet run command.

4. Optional: Install locally as a tool

   To install your built version as a global tool:

   dotnet pack
   dotnet tool install --global --add-source ./bin/Debug Vault.10.25.25
   

Updating Vault

To update Vault to the latest version:

dotnet tool update --global Vault.10.25.25

Uninstalling Vault

If you need to uninstall Vault:

dotnet tool uninstall --global Vault.10.25.25

Uninstalling the tool does not delete your vault database. Your data will remain in the .kvstore directory in your home folder. To completely remove all data, manually delete the .kvstore directory after uninstalling.

Troubleshooting

Command not found after installation

If the vault command is not recognized after installation, you may need to add the .NET tools directory to your PATH:

Windows (PowerShell)

$env:PATH += ";$env:USERPROFILE\.dotnet\tools"

To make this permanent, add the export command to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.).

Permission errors on Linux/macOS

If you encounter permission errors when creating the database, ensure your home directory has proper write permissions:

ls -ld ~

.NET version mismatch

Vault requires .NET 9.0. If you have an older version installed, you’ll see an error during installation. Update to .NET 9.0 or later:

dotnet --version

Visit dotnet.microsoft.com to download the latest version.

Next Steps

Now that Vault is installed, learn how to use it:

Quickstart Guide

Get started with Vault in just a few minutes