Install

One global install gives you the forkguard command in every folder.

On this page

Requirements
Install
Or try it once
Update
Remove
Platform notes
Where to next

#Requirements

Node.js 18 or newer. Get it from nodejs.org.
git. Get it from git-scm.com.

Check you have both:

node --version
git --version

Two features need a little more. forkguard pr and forkguard --mine talk to GitHub, so they need the GitHub CLI logged in (gh auth login) or a GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable.

#Install

npm install -g forkguard

The -g means global: you can now type forkguard in any folder. Check it worked:

forkguard --version

#Or try it once

Put npx in front of any command. Nothing is installed:

npx forkguard
npx forkguard someone/their-repo

You do need the global install for automatic protection, because your shell has to be able to find forkguard.

#Update

npm update -g forkguard

Check what you have with forkguard --version. The newest version is on npm, and every release is listed on the releases page.

#Remove

If you turned on automatic protection, turn it off first so the hook comes out of your shell profile:

forkguard setup --remove
npm uninstall -g forkguard

Open a new terminal afterwards.

#Platform notes

Platform	Notes
Windows	Works in PowerShell, PowerShell 7 and Git Bash. `forkguard setup` writes the hook to each profile it finds.
macOS	Works in zsh and bash. `forkguard setup` writes to `~/.zshrc` and `~/.bashrc`.
Linux	Works in bash and zsh, same files as macOS.

Tested in CI on Linux, Windows and macOS, on Node 18, 20 and 22.

Where to next

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