Install sources

Every form pair-cli install and update accept for --source, a remote URL, a git repository, a local path or ZIP, and the offline mode, with the constraints between them.

By default pair-cli install downloads the Knowledge Base from the latest GitHub release. --source points it somewhere else: an internal mirror, your own KB repository, a local directory, or a ZIP carried into an air-gapped machine. pair-cli update accepts the same flags.

Remote URL

Any HTTP or HTTPS URL to a KB ZIP package. The CLI downloads it, checks the SHA-256 checksum and installs every registry it ships.

pair-cli install --source https://internal-mirror.company.com/kb-v1.2.0.zip
 
# make a mirror the default
export PAIR_KB_DEFAULT_URL=https://artifacts.company.com/pair/kb-latest.zip
pair-cli install

Git repository

Any git URL; the CLI shallow-clones it (depth 1) and installs from the clone. Pin a tag or branch with #ref.

pair-cli install --source https://github.com/acme/kb-artifacts.git
pair-cli install --source git@github.com:acme/kb-artifacts.git#v1.0.0

SSH URLs use your SSH keys. HTTPS URLs to a private repository need PAIR_GIT_TOKEN:

export PAIR_GIT_TOKEN=ghp_your_personal_access_token
pair-cli install --source https://github.com/acme/private-kb.git#v2.0.0

In CI, inject it as a secret (env: PAIR_GIT_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GIT_TOKEN }}).

Local path or ZIP

pair-cli install --source /path/to/kb-content
pair-cli install --source ./local-kb
pair-cli install --source ./downloads/kb-v1.0.0.zip

A local directory is installed from in place and never cached, so editing it changes what the next install produces. Use it while developing a KB, to validate a package before publishing, or to install from a shared folder.

Offline

--offline forbids every network request and requires a local --source:

pair-cli install --offline --source ./kb-content

Air-gapped workflow: download kb.zip from the release on a connected machine, transfer it, unzip kb.zip -d ./kb-content, install with --offline.

Constraints

`--source`	`--offline`	Result
absent	no	download from the GitHub release
absent	yes	error: `--offline` requires `--source`
`https://...`	no	download from the URL
`https://...`	yes	error: a URL needs the network
`*.git`, `git@...`	no	clone the repository
`*.git`, `git@...`	yes	error: a clone needs the network
`./local-path`	no	use the local path
`./local-path`	yes	use the local path

Verify before installing

pair-cli kb-verify ./kb-package.zip && pair-cli install --source ./kb-package.zip

kb-verify checks the checksum, the package structure and the manifest.

Caching and isolation

An external source that has to be materialized (a ZIP, a remote ZIP, a git clone) is cached under ~/.pair/kb/external/<kind>-<hash>/, never in the official KB's slot (~/.pair/kb/<cli-version>/), so installing an external KB in one project cannot change what another project resolves. Registries the source does not ship are skipped and named in the summary, not failed; the exit code follows real failures only. update --source reads the KB's own pair.config.json, so a declared prefix survives the round trip.

Own and publish a Knowledge Base: the repository these sources install from
CLI commands: full install and update syntax
KB source resolution: the resolution algorithm

Install sources

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