Install the CLI

TL;DR

Operate the stack from your terminal
Install mdk on your PATH with npm install -g @tetherto/mdk-cli
Confirm it with mdk --version

mdk is MDK's command-line tool for standing up and operating a stack from your terminal. It scaffolds a stack (mdk create), boots it (mdk run), and reports its health (mdk status), all driven by the mdk.yaml spec mdk onboard writes for you.

Prerequisites

Node.js >=24 (LTS)
npm 11 (< 12)

Install

Install the published CLI from npm. A source checkout is only needed to work on the CLI itself.

Put `mdk` on your PATH

If mdk --version already prints a version, skip to verifying your install.

A Install from npm

npm install -g @tetherto/mdk-cli

npx @tetherto/mdk-cli@latest <command> runs a single command without installing anything globally, which suits CI and one-off scaffolding.

B Install from a source checkout

Contributors who are changing the CLI's own source build it and link that build onto their PATH instead.

git clone https://github.com/tetherto/mdk.git && cd mdk/packages
npm install
cd cli && npm run build && npm link

To pin a tagged release, pick a tag from mdk tags and check it out before installing, for example git checkout -b local/v0.12.1 v0.12.1.

Verify the install

mdk --version

Run project commands from your project

Commands such as mdk skill add and mdk onboard write into your current directory, so run them from the app or UI project you are working in. Only mdk --version is global.

Command groups

A selection of commands you can run today:

Group	Commands
Onboarding	`mdk onboard`
Scaffold	`mdk create worker\|app\|dashboard`
Add & validate	`mdk add app\|worker <source>`, `mdk validate app\|worker <name>`
Run & manage	`mdk run [target]`, `mdk status`
Agent enablement	`mdk skill add`
Meta	`mdk version`

The CLI's command surface documents the full flag reference.

Update

npm install -g @tetherto/mdk-cli@latest

Updating a source checkout (option B above) instead: git pull && npm install && npm run build.

Uninstall

npm rm -g @tetherto/mdk-cli

Next steps

Try the demo to see a stack running end to end
Build with your agent so a coding agent knows MDK conventions