Skip to main content

​
Installing Glow

Glow is available on multiple platforms and can be installed using your preferred package manager.
1

Choose your installation method

Select the installation method that works best for your operating system:
brew install glow
2

Install with Go (all platforms)

If you have Go installed, you can install Glow directly:
go install github.com/charmbracelet/glow/v2@latest
This method requires Go to be installed on your system. The glow binary will be installed to your $GOPATH/bin directory.
3

Build from source

To build Glow from source, you’ll need Go 1.21 or later:
git clone https://github.com/charmbracelet/glow.git
cd glow
go build
Requirements: Go 1.21+ is required for building from source.
After building, you can move the glow binary to a directory in your $PATH:
sudo mv glow /usr/local/bin/
4

Verify installation

Confirm that Glow is installed correctly by checking the version:
glow --version
You should see output similar to:
glow version 2.0.0

​
Download Pre-built Binaries

You can also download pre-built binaries from the GitHub releases page. Binaries are available for:
  • macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon)
  • Linux (x64 and ARM)
  • Windows (x64 and ARM)
  • FreeBSD and OpenBSD
Package formats include:
  • .deb packages for Debian/Ubuntu
  • .rpm packages for Fedora/RHEL
  • .apk packages for Alpine Linux
  • Standalone binaries for all platforms

​
Next Steps

Now that you have Glow installed, try it out: 
# Launch the TUI
glow

# Render a markdown file
glow README.md

# Get help
glow --help
Run glow config to create and edit a configuration file with your preferred default settings.

​
System Requirements

  • Terminal: Any modern terminal emulator with color support
  • Go version: 1.21+ (only required for building from source)
  • Platform: macOS, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, or Termux on Android

​
Troubleshooting

If you installed Glow with go install, make sure your $GOPATH/bin directory is in your $PATH:
export PATH="$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin"
Add this line to your shell configuration file (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.) to make it permanent.
When moving the binary to /usr/local/bin/, you may need to use sudo:
sudo mv glow /usr/local/bin/
If you encounter GPG key errors, ensure you have the gpg command installed:
sudo apt install gnupg
Then retry the installation steps.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us