Native packages have a more robust update cycle, but sometimes they are slow to upgrade.
If the one for your platform is up-to-date we suggest going with it.

sudo apt install ani-cli

sudo dnf copr enable derisis13/ani-cli
sudo dnf install ani-cli

yay -S ani-cli

sudo eselect repository enable guru
sudo emaint sync -r guru
sudo emerge -a ani-cli

sudo emerge -a =app-misc/ani-cli-9999

zypper addrepo https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/derisis13/ani-cli/opensuse-tumbleweed-x86_64/ ani-cli
zypper dup
zypper install ani-cli

Install dependencies (See below)

Install HomeBrew if not installed.

git clone "https://github.com/pystardust/ani-cli.git" && cd ./ani-cli
cp ./ani-cli "$(brew --prefix)"/bin
cd .. && rm -rf ./ani-cli

To install (with Homebrew) the dependencies required on Mac OS, you can run:

brew install curl grep aria2 ffmpeg git fzf yt-dlp && \
brew install --cask iina

Why iina and not mpv? Drop-in replacement for mpv for MacOS. Integrates well with OSX UI. Excellent support for M1. Open Source.

Install termux (Guide)

pkg up -y
pkg install ani-cli

If you're using Android 14 make sure to run this due to #1206:

pkg install termux-am

For players you can use the apk (playstore/fdroid) versions of mpv and vlc. Note that these cannot be checked from termux so a warning is generated when checking dependencies.

ani-cli is on scoop. Please read further for setup instructions.

We will set up the bash.exe that comes with Git for Windows to be used with Windows Terminal. You may use terminals such as Wezterm or Alacritty, but this guide only covers Windows Terminal. The Git Bash terminal (i.e., mintty) has problems with fzf.

First, you'll need to install the scoop package manager. (Install) Follow quickstart.

Next, get Windows Terminal. It comes preinstalled on Windows 11. If you do not have it, install it by running the following commands in powershell.

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install extras/windows-terminal

Next, get git. If you have it, please update it. If you do not already have it, install it by running scoop install git in powershell.

Ensure that Git Bash is present in the Windows Terminal tab drop down, as shown below.

If it is not there, please add it. To add it, first click the drop-down button beside the new tab button (shown above).

Then, navigate to Settings > Profiles > Add a new profile. Click + New empty profile.

Next:

• If you installed git with scoop: Set Name as "Git Bash", set Command line as %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%\bin\bash.exe -i -l, and set Icon as %GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%\mingw64\share\git\git-for-windows.ico.
• If you installed git by other means: Set Name as "Git Bash", set Command line as C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe -i -l, and set Icon as C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\share\git\git-for-windows.ico.

Next, set Starting Directory to %USERPROFILE%, and ensure that Hide profile from dropdown is set to "Off" (otherwise you won't be able to see this profile in the drop down).

Now save your changes.

You will use this profile to run ani-cli in this bash shell. Under Startup in Windows Terminal Settings, you may set this profile as the default so that you do not have to switch to it every time you want to run ani-cli.

Now restart Windows Terminal. In the Git Bash profile, install ani-cli by running the following commands.

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install ani-cli

Next, install its dependencies.

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install fzf ffmpeg mpv

Consider also installing yt-dlp and aria2 for downloading to work.

Restart Windows Terminal. Go to the Git Bash profile and update ani-cli with ani-cli -U. You will use this keep ani-cli up-to-date.

Now you can use ani-cli. Read the output of ani-cli -h for more help.

If you have a problem, please update ani-cli to the latest version with ani-cli -U. If you still have a problem, please read further.

• Stuck in "Search anime:". This shouldn't happen if you are using the Windows Terminal + Bash setup described above. It happens if you are using the Git Bash terminal (i.e., the mintty terminal). This is a problem between fzf and mintty, which should be resolved in future versions of fzf. For the time being, either use the Windows Terminal setup described above or, if you are dead-set on using the mintty terminal, run export MSYS=enable_pcon before running ani-cli.
• "No such file or directory" or WSL-related errors: This shouldn't happen if you are using the Window Terminal + Bash setup described above. This happens if you run ani-cli in powershell or cmd. This is due WSL's bash.exe being called instead of Git for Windows' bash.exe in %USERPROFILE%\scoop\shims\ani-cli.cmd. If you must use powershell or cmd, edit the %USERPROFILE%\scoop\shims\ani-cli.cmd file. In File Explorer, go to the C:\Users\USERNAME\scoop\shims directory and open the ani-cli.cmd file with notepad. Next:
  • If you installed git with scoop, replace @bash with @"%GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%\bin\bash.exe", or
  • If you installed git by other means, replace @bash with @"C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe". This should be fixed if the ani-cli scoop manifest gets updated in this PR.
• curl can cause issues. ani-cli has been tested unsuccessfully with curl 7.83.1 and successfully with 7.86.0. If you run into issues, try installing a newer one with scoop.
• If you installed mpv with scoop, your mpv configuration will get read from C:\Users\USERNAME\scoop\apps\mpv\current\portable_config. See the mpv documentation regarding portable_config for more details.

Follow the installation instructions of your Linux distribution.

Note that the media player (mpv or vlc) will need to be installed on Windows, not WSL. See the justification for this in the comment (here). Instructions on how to use the media player from WSL instead are also included in the linked comment.

When installing the media player on Windows, make sure that it is on the Windows Path. An easy way to ensure this is to download the media player with a package manager (on Windows, not WSL) such as scoop.

Install iSH and VLC from the app store.

Make sure apk is updated using apk update; apk upgrade then run this:

apk add grep sed curl fzf git aria2 ncurses patch
apk add ffmpeg
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/pystardust/ani-cli ~/.ani-cli
cp ~/.ani-cli/ani-cli /usr/local/bin/ani-cli
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ani-cli
rm -rf ~/.ani-cli

note that downloading is going to be very slow. This is an iSH issue, not an ani-cli issue.

• Switch to Desktop mode (STEAM Button > Power > Switch to Desktop)
• Open Konsole (Steam Deck Icon in bottom left corner > System > Konsole)
• Copy the script, paste it in the CLI and press Enter("A" button on Steam Deck)

[ ! -d ~/.local/bin ] && mkdir ~/.local/bin && echo "export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:\$PATH" >> ".$(echo $SHELL | sed -nE "s|.*/(.*)\$|\1|p")rc"

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install

mkdir ~/.aria2c
curl -o ~/.aria2c/aria2-1.36.0.tar.bz2 https://github.com/q3aql/aria2-static-builds/releases/download/v1.36.0/aria2-1.36.0-linux-gnu-64bit-build1.tar.bz2
tar xvf ~/.aria2c/aria2-1.36.0.tar.bz2 -C ~/.aria2c/
cp ~/.aria2c/aria2-1.36.0-linux-gnu-64bit-build1/aria2c ~/.local/bin/
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/aria2c

curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o ~/.local/bin/yt-dlp
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/yt-dlp

mkdir ~/.patch
curl -o ~/.patch/patch.tar.zst https://mirror.sunred.org/archlinux/core/os/x86_64/patch-2.7.6-10-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
tar xvf ~/.patch/patch.tar.zst -C ~/.patch/
cp ~/.patch/usr/bin/patch ~/.local/bin/

git clone https://github.com/pystardust/ani-cli.git ~/.ani-cli
cp ~/.ani-cli/ani-cli ~/.local/bin/

flatpak install io.mpv.Mpv

press enter("A" button on Steam Deck) on questions

flatpak install io.mpv.Mpv

press enter("A" button on Steam Deck) on questions

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install

press enter("A" button on Steam Deck) on questions

[ ! -d ~/.local/bin ] && mkdir ~/.local/bin && echo "export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:\$PATH" >> ".$(echo $SHELL | sed -nE "s|.*/(.*)\$|\1|p")rc"

mkdir ~/.aria2c
curl -o ~/.aria2c/aria2-1.36.0.tar.bz2 https://github.com/q3aql/aria2-static-builds/releases/download/v1.36.0/aria2-1.36.0-linux-gnu-64bit-build1.tar.bz2
tar xvf ~/.aria2c/aria2-1.36.0.tar.bz2 -C ~/.aria2c/
cp ~/.aria2c/aria2-1.36.0-linux-gnu-64bit-build1/aria2c ~/.local/bin/
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/aria2c

curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o ~/.local/bin/yt-dlp
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/yt-dlp

mkdir ~/.patch
curl -o ~/.patch/patch.tar.zst https://mirror.sunred.org/archlinux/core/os/x86_64/patch-2.7.6-10-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
tar xvf ~/.patch/patch.tar.zst -C ~/.patch/
cp ~/.patch/usr/bin/patch ~/.local/bin/

git clone https://github.com/pystardust/ani-cli.git ~/.ani-cli
cp ~/.ani-cli/ani-cli ~/.local/bin/

echo '[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=bash -c "source $HOME/.'$(echo $SHELL | sed -nE "s|.*/(.*)\$|\1|p")'rc && konsole --fullscreen -e ani-cli"
Name=ani-cli' > $HOME/.local/share/applications/ani-cli.desktop

The .desktop entry will allow to start ani-cli in Konsole directly from "Gaming Mode" In Steam Desktop app: Add game > Add a non-steam game > tick a box for ani-cli > Add selected programs

sudo pkg install mpv fzf aria2 yt-dlp patch git
git clone "https://github.com/pystardust/ani-cli.git"
sudo cp ani-cli/ani-cli /usr/local/bin
rm -rf ani-cli

sudo pkg install mpv fzf aria2 yt-dlp patch

install git if you haven't already

sudo pkg install git

install from source:

git clone "https://github.com/pystardust/ani-cli.git"
sudo cp ani-cli/ani-cli /usr/local/bin
rm -rf ani-cli

• apt:

sudo apt remove ani-cli
# to remove the repository from apt
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ani-cli.asc /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ani-cli-debian.list

• dnf:

sudo dnf remove ani-cli      # for ani-cli
# disable the repo in dnf
dnf copr disable derisis13/ani-cli

You might want to uninstall RPM fusion if you don't use it otherwise

• zypper:

zypper remove ani-cli
zypper removerepo ani-cli

You might want to remove packman-essentials if you don't need it otherwise

• AUR:

yay -R ani-cli

• Scoop:

scoop uninstall ani-cli

• Linux:

sudo rm "/usr/local/bin/ani-cli"

• Mac:

rm "$(brew --prefix)/bin/ani-cli"

• Windows: In Git Bash run (as administrator):

rm "/usr/bin/ani-cli"

• Termux package

pkg remove ani-cli

• Android:

rm "$PREFIX/bin/ani-cli"

• Steam Deck

rm "~/.local/bin/ani-cli"
rm -rf ~/.ani-cli

optionally: remove dependencies:

rm ~/.local/bin/aria2c
rm ~/.local/bin/yt-dlp
rm -rf "~/.aria2"
rm -rf "~/.fzf"
flatpak uninstall io.mpv.Mpv

• iOS

rm -rf /usr/local/bin/ani-cli

To uninstall other dependencies:

apk del grep sed curl fzf git aria2 ffmpeg ncurses

• Can I change subtitle language or turn them off? - No, the subtitles are baked into the video.
• Can I watch dub? - Yes, use --dub.
• Can I change dub language? - No.
• Can I change media source? - No (unless you can scrape that source yourself).
• Can I use vlc? - Yes, use --vlc or export ANI_CLI_PLAYER=vlc.
• Can I adjust resolution? - Yes, use -q resolution, for example ani-cli -q 1080.
• How can I download? - Use -d, it will download into your working directory.
• Can i change download folder? - Yes, set the ANI_CLI_DOWNLOAD_DIR to your desired location.
• How can I bulk download? - Use -d -e firstepisode-lastepisode, for example ani-cli onepiece -d -e 1-1000.

Note: All features are documented in ani-cli --help.