Installation

Install SystemPrompt CLI and set up your development environment

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This guide covers installing the SystemPrompt CLI and setting up your development environment.

Prerequisites

Before installing SystemPrompt, ensure you have:

  • Rust 1.75+ - Install from rustup.rs
  • Docker - For local PostgreSQL (optional if using cloud)
  • Git - For cloning repositories

Verify Prerequisites

# Check Rust version
rustc --version
# Should output: rustc 1.75.0 or higher

# Check Docker
docker --version
# Should output: Docker version 24.0.0 or higher

# Check Git
git --version

Install the CLI

The simplest way to install SystemPrompt:

cargo install systemprompt-cli

This installs the systemprompt binary to your Cargo bin directory.

Option B: Build from Source

For the latest development version:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/systempromptio/systemprompt-core
cd systemprompt-core

# Build in release mode
cargo build --release -p systemprompt-cli

# The binary is at target/release/systemprompt
# Optionally, copy to your PATH
cp target/release/systemprompt ~/.cargo/bin/

Verify Installation

systemprompt --version
# Should output: systemprompt-cli 0.0.14 or similar

Database Setup

SystemPrompt requires PostgreSQL. Choose one of these options:

Option 1: Local PostgreSQL with Docker

# Start PostgreSQL container
docker run -d --name systemprompt-db \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=systemprompt \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=systemprompt \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=systemprompt \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  postgres:16

# Verify it's running
docker ps | grep systemprompt-db

Option 2: Existing PostgreSQL

If you have an existing PostgreSQL instance, you'll configure the connection during profile setup.

Option 3: SystemPrompt Cloud

SystemPrompt Cloud includes a managed PostgreSQL database. No local setup required.

Initial Setup

1. Login to SystemPrompt Cloud

Even for local development, logging in enables profile management and content sync:

systemprompt cloud auth login

This opens a browser for authentication.

2. Create a Tenant

For local development:

systemprompt cloud tenant create --type local

For cloud deployment:

systemprompt cloud tenant create --region iad

3. Create a Profile

systemprompt cloud profile create local

Follow the prompts to configure your database connection.

4. Run Migrations

systemprompt infra db migrate

5. Start Services

systemprompt infra services start --all

Verify Setup

Check that everything is working:

# Check service status
systemprompt infra services status

# Check database connection
systemprompt infra db status

# List available agents
systemprompt admin agents list

Next Steps