How to install the Radius CLI

Learn how to install the Radius CLI and customize the installation directory

The Radius command-line interface (rad) is the primary way to interact with Radius from your local machine. It is used to install the Radius control plane, create and manage Environments and Resource Groups, and deploy and manage Applications.

Because Radius uses Bicep to define Applications and resources, the Bicep CLI is installed when the Radius CLI is installed. Radius uses the Bicep CLI to compile Bicep code into deployable JSON.

Visit the reference documentation to learn more about the Radius CLI and its commands.

Install the Radius CLI

The Radius CLI is distributed as a single binary that can be installed on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Install the Radius CLI on your workstation with the appropriate installation script:


To try out a stable release visit the latest docs.

To install the latest edge release, first install ORAS. Then, run the following command to install the Radius CLI:

$script=iwr -useb "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/radius-project/radius/main/deploy/install.ps1"; $block=[ScriptBlock]::Create($script); invoke-command -ScriptBlock $block -ArgumentList edge

To try out a stable release visit the latest docs.

Edge version installation via WinGet is not supported. To install the latest edge release, use the install script in the Windows PowerShell tab.


To try out a stable release visit the latest docs.

To install the latest edge release, first install ORAS. Then, run the following command to install the Radius CLI:

curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/radius-project/radius/main/deploy/install.sh" | /bin/bash -s edge

To try out a stable release visit the latest docs.

To install the latest edge release, first install ORAS. Then, run the following command to install the Radius CLI:

wget -q "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/radius-project/radius/main/deploy/install.sh" -O - | /bin/bash -s edge

Open in GitHub Codespaces


Visit Radius GitHub releases to select and download a specific version of the Radius CLI.

Verify the Radius CLI is installed correctly by running rad version.

Optionally specify the installation directory


By default it installs the Radius CLI to a user-writable location:

  • When run as a normal user: $HOME/.local/bin/rad
  • When run as root: /usr/local/bin/rad

To install to a different path, set the INSTALL_DIR environment variable before running the script:

# Install to your home directory
export INSTALL_DIR=~/.local/bin

If the install directory is not on your PATH, the script prints the command to add it.


By default, the installation script installs the Radius CLI to %LOCALAPPDATA%\radius\rad.exe.

To install to a different path, set the INSTALL_DIR environment variable before running the script:

# Install to a custom directory
$env:INSTALL_DIR = "$HOME\bin"

If you installed the CLI with WinGet, the install location is managed by WinGet and added to your PATH automatically; the INSTALL_DIR variable does not apply.

Verify the installation by running rad version.

Next steps

Once the Radius CLI has been installed, install the Radius control plane.

Next step: How to install the Radius control plane