MiniScript on the Command Line

You can use MiniScript on the command line, and even use it to write clean, readable shell scripts!

Download & Installation

Download and unzip the appropriate binary for your system:

The download package includes a prebuilt binary for the selected platform, along with the MiniScript manual, a command-line MiniScript addendum, a library of useful modules, and some examples.

Here's a direct link to the command-line docs on GitHub.

If you want to live on the bleeding edge, check the Releases page for preview or final candidate releases.

Source Code

Source code for the MiniScript core, and this command-line wrapper is available in our GitHub repo. Contributions and suggestions are very welcome!

Version History

2.0Oct 23 2026 Complete rewrite of both the MiniScript core, and the command-line host. See What's New in MiniScript 2.0 for details.
1.3Feb 18 2024
  • Updated core language to MiniScript 1.6.2 (see release notes)
  • Added an exec intrinsic, to execute a shell command
  • Added a -i command-line flag to enter interactive mode after running the given script
  • Output from print is flushed right away, preventing visual bugs if you suppress the line break and follow it with an input call
  • fixed an issue that could cause miniscript to fail on a source file with a very long line
  • Changed build instructions from hand-written makefile to CMake
1.2.1Jun 30 2023
  • Updated core language to MiniScript 1.6.1 (see release notes)
  • fixed an error which could sometimes, at random, cause the command-line REPL to be nonresponsive
1.2Feb 06 2023
  • Updated core language to MiniScript 1.6 (see release notes)
  • upon launch, now adds MS_SCRIPT_DIR and MS_EXE_DIR to the environment variables, as well as MS_IMPORT_PATH if not already defined
  • added import intrinsic, searching directories in MS_IMPORT_PATH for the specified import module
  • now ships with a set of 11 standard import modules, including date/time functions, JSON and tab-separated value converters, misc. utilities, and VTxxx terminal control
1.1Dec 18 2021Updated core language to 1.5.1 (no changes to host environment).
1.1Jan 16 2021Added env to provide access to environment variables.
1.0Sep 13 2019First public release for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
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