zvm

Zig Version Manager (zvm) is a tool for managing your Zig installs. With std under heavy development and a large feature roadmap, Zig is bound to continue changing. Breaking existing builds, updating valid syntax, and introducing new features like a package manager. While this is great for developers, it also can lead to headaches when you need multiple versions of a language installed to compile your projects, or a language gets updated frequently.

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Installing ZVM

ZVM lives entirely in $HOME/.zvm on all platforms it supports. Inside of the directory, ZVM will download new ZIG versions and symlink whichever version you specify with zvm use to $HOME/.zvm/bin. You should add this folder to your path. After ZVM 0.2.3, ZVM's installer will now add ZVM to $HOME/.zvm/self. You should also add this directory as the environment variable ZVM_INSTALL. The installer scripts should handle this for you automatically on *nix and Windows systems.

If you don't want to use ZVM_INSTALL (like you already have ZVM in a place you like), then ZVM will update the exact executable you've called upgrade from.

All installation scripts hosted on www.zvm.app are identical to, and are automatically synced with their respective copies on GitHub.

www.zvm.app/install.sh === ./install.sh

Linux, BSD, MacOS, *nix

curl https://www.zvm.app/install.sh | bash

Windows

PowerShell

irm "https://www.zvm.app/install.ps1" | iex

Command Prompt

powershell -c "irm https://www.zvm.app/install.ps1 | iex"

If You Have a Valid Version of Go Installed

go install -ldflags "-s -w" github.com/tristanisham/zvm@latest

Manually

Please grab the latest release.

Alternatively, you can build the app by cloning the repository and running

go build .
./zvm

If you want to disable that ZVM can automatically update itself, you can run

go build -tags noAutoUpgrades .

instead for building the app.

Putting ZVM on your Path

ZVM requires a few directories to be on your $PATH.

Linux, BSD, MacOS, *nix

The installer script handles this for you automatically. If you need to set it up manually, append the following to your shell's startup file (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.profile):

export ZVM_INSTALL="$HOME/.zvm/self"
export PATH="$HOME/.zvm/bin:$ZVM_INSTALL:$PATH"

Then restart your shell or source the file for the changes to take effect.

Windows

If you don't know how to update your environment variables permanently on Windows, you can follow this guide. Once you're in the appropriate menu, add or append to the following environment variables:

Add

• ZVM_INSTALL: %USERPROFILE%\.zvm\self

Append

• PATH: %USERPROFILE%\.zvm\bin
• PATH: %ZVM_INSTALL%

Configure ZVM path

It is possible to overwrite the default behavior of ZVM to adhere to XDG specification on Linux. There's an environment variable ZVM_PATH. Setting it to $XDG_DATA_HOME/zvm will do the trick.

Community Package

AUR

zvm on the Arch AUR is a community-maintained package, and may be out of date.

Why should I use ZVM?

While Zig is still pre-1.0 if you're going to stay up-to-date with the master branch, you're going to be downloading Zig quite often. You could do it manually, having to scroll around to find your appropriate version, decompress it, and install it on your $PATH. Or, you could install ZVM and run zvm i master every time you want to update. zvm is a static binary under a permissive license. It supports more platforms than any other Zig version manager. ZVM has no system dependencies. Whether you're on Windows, MacOS, Linux, a flavor of BSD, or Plan 9 zvm will let you install, switch between, and run multiple versions of Zig.

Using ZVM with AI coding agents

ZVM ships one portable agent skill with plugin manifests for Claude Code and Codex. It teaches coding agents to reach for zvm instead of a distro package or a hand-unpacked tarball, and to drive it correctly when they do.

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add tristanisham/zvm
/plugin install zvm

The same commands are also available from a shell:

claude plugin marketplace add tristanisham/zvm
claude plugin install zvm@zvm

Codex and other agents

The repository includes a Codex plugin manifest at .codex-plugin/plugin.json. The underlying skills/zig-versions/ directory uses the portable Agent Skills layout, so other skill-compatible agents can load that directory directly.

The shared skill covers ZVM's real command surface, how to find the version a repository actually wants (//! zvm-lock: in build.zig, .minimum_zig_version in build.zig.zon), and why agents should prefer zvm run over zvm use so they never repoint your global Zig without being asked. The command reference is generated from ZVM's own CLI definition, so it cannot drift from the binary.

Contributing and Notice

zvm is stable software. Pre-v1.0.0 any breaking changes will be clearly labeled, and any commands potentially on the chopping block will print notice. The program is under constant development, and the author is very willing to work with contributors. If you have any issues, ideas, or contributions you'd like to suggest create a GitHub issue.

How to use ZVM

Install

zvm install  
# Or
zvm i 

Use install or i to download a specific version of Zig. You can pass an exact version, a shorthand, or an alias.

zvm i 0.13.0      # Install an exact version
zvm i master      # Install the current master nightly
zvm i stable      # Install the latest stable release
zvm i .14         # Shorthand — installs 0.14.x (latest patch)

Version Shorthand

You can use abbreviated version numbers and ZVM will resolve them to the latest matching release:

zvm i 0.13     # Installs 0.13.0
zvm i .13      # Same as above — a leading dot implies "0."
zvm i 0.15     # Installs 0.15.2 (latest 0.15.x patch)
zvm i .15      # Same — resolves to 0.15.2

Whenever ZVM expands a shorthand, it prints the result so you know exactly what's being fetched:

$ zvm i .14
Resolved ".14" to 0.14.1
...

Shorthand works across every command that takes a version:

zvm i 0.14      # install
zvm use .13     # switch active version
zvm run 0.12 version
zvm rm .11      # uninstall

For use and rm, shorthand is resolved against your locally installed versions. For install and run, it resolves against the remote version map.

Version Aliases

ZVM understands a few named aliases in addition to concrete versions:

Alias	Resolves to
master	The current master nightly build (passes through as-is)
stable	The highest non-dev, non-master release (e.g. 0.16.0)

zvm i stable        # Install the latest stable release
zvm use stable      # Switch to the latest installed stable release
zvm i master        # Install the current master nightly

stable is especially useful in automation — you don't have to know the exact version number to grab the newest release.

You can also create your own named aliases with the alias command.

Force Install

As of v0.7.6 ZVM will now skip downloading a version if it is already installed. You can always force an install with the --force or -f flag.

zvm i --force master

You can also enable the old behavior by setting the new alwaysForceInstall field to true in ~/.zvm/settings.json.

Install Without Switching

By default, installing Zig also makes that version active. Pass --skip-use or -k to install it without changing the active Zig version:

zvm i --skip-use 0.15.2

This also applies when installing ZLS with --zls.

Install a Specific Development Build

Zig development builds can be installed by their full build identifier, such as 0.16.0-dev.1334+06d08daba. ZVM downloads these builds directly from ziglang.org/builds because they are not listed in the release version map.

Development builds do not have a version-map SHA-256 checksum. ZVM warns about this and asks for confirmation before continuing:

zvm i 0.16.0-dev.1334+06d08daba

For an explicit non-interactive install, pass --skip-shasum (or -s). This also skips SHA-256 verification for regular Zig and ZLS installations, so use it only when you accept that risk:

zvm i --skip-shasum 0.16.0-dev.1334+06d08daba

Customize HTTP Timeout

You can pass a custom HTTP timeout (in seconds) for zvm i using the --http.timeout flag or by setting the ZVM_HTTP_TIMEOUT environment variable.

zvm i --http.timeout 30

Install ZLS with ZVM

You can now install ZLS with your Zig download! To install ZLS with ZVM, simply pass the --zls flag with zvm i. For example:

zvm i --zls master

By default, ZVM stops if the Zig installation fails and does not attempt the requested ZLS installation. To attempt ZLS even after a Zig installation error, set alwaysInstallZLS to true in ~/.zvm/settings.json:

{
  "alwaysInstallZLS": true
}

The command still returns the Zig installation error. If ZLS also fails, ZVM returns both errors.

Install for a Different Target Platform

If you're on a platform where pre-built Zig binaries aren't available for a specific version (e.g., FreeBSD for Zig 0.14.x), you can override the target OS and/or architecture to download a compatible build.

Use the --target-os and --target-arch flags:

zvm i --target-os linux --target-arch x86_64 0.14.0

Or set the ZVM_TARGET_OS and ZVM_TARGET_ARCH environment variables:

export ZVM_TARGET_OS=linux
export ZVM_TARGET_ARCH=x86_64
zvm i 0.14.0

Both Go-style names (e.g., darwin, amd64) and Zig-style names (e.g., macos, x86_64) are accepted.

Select ZLS compatibility mode

By default, ZVM will install a ZLS build, which can be used with the given Zig version, but may not be able to build ZLS from source. If you want to use a ZLS build, which can be built using the selected Zig version, pass the --full flag with zvm i --zls. For example:

zvm i --zls --full master

[!IMPORTANT] This does not apply to tagged releases, e.g.: 0.13.0

Switch between installed Zig versions

zvm use 

Use use to switch between versions of Zig. The version argument accepts shorthand and aliases.

zvm use master     # Switch to master
zvm use stable     # Switch to the latest installed stable release
zvm use 0.13       # Resolves to 0.13.x (latest installed patch)
zvm use .14        # Same — leading dot implies "0."

Alias your Zig versions

Use alias (or kv) to give an installed Zig version a custom name. The version must already be installed, and shorthand is supported.

zvm alias work 0.13.0    # Point "work" at 0.13.0
zvm alias play .14       # Resolve to the latest installed 0.14.x
zvm use work             # Switch versions by alias
zvm run play version     # Run a command with the aliased version

Aliases work with install, use, run, and rm. Setting an existing name updates it.

zvm alias                # List all aliases
zvm alias work           # Print one alias
zvm alias -d work        # Delete one alias
zvm alias --clear        # Delete al