JackNDwyer · Oct 19, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -29,12 +29,16 @@ This package includes command line utilities that interacts with LiveKit. It all
 brew install livekit-cli
 ```
 
-## Linux
+Or use the install script below.
+
+## Linux and Mac
 
 ```shell
 curl -sSL https://get.livekit.io/cli | bash
 ```
 
+The script installs `lk` to `/usr/local/bin` (set `LK_INSTALL_PATH` to change it), then installs LiveKit's [coding agent skills](#coding-agent-skills) and Docs MCP server for the coding agents it finds. Set `LK_INSTALL_SKILLS=0` to skip that step, or `LK_INSTALL_SKILLS=1` to run it without a terminal.
+
 Or download a precompiled binary for the [latest release](https://github.com/livekit/livekit-cli/releases/latest)
 
 ## Windows

diff --git a/cmd/lk/banner.go b/cmd/lk/banner.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 
 	"charm.land/lipgloss/v2"
 	"github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3"
+	"github.com/urfave/cli/v3"
 
 	livekitcli "github.com/livekit/livekit-cli/v2"
 	"github.com/livekit/livekit-cli/v2/pkg/util"
@@ -133,10 +134,12 @@ func bannerMessages(raw []byte, version string) []string {
 
 // showBanner prints the notices before the command runs. It blocks so the
 // banner owns the terminal first: prompts and spinners write to the terminal
-// directly and cannot be held behind it. Non-interactive runs (scripts, pipes)
-// skip the fetch entirely.
-func showBanner(ctx context.Context) {
-	if !out.Interactive() {
+// directly and cannot be held behind it. Runs that a script or tool drives
+// (stderr or stdin isn't a terminal, or --yes) skip the fetch entirely: the
+// install script and coding agents invoke lk that way, and a notice there is
+// noise. A person at a terminal sees it on their next command.
+func showBanner(ctx context.Context, cmd *cli.Command) {
+	if !out.Interactive() || SkipPrompts(cmd) {
 		return
 	}
 	printBanner(loadBanner(ctx), out.Err)

diff --git a/cmd/lk/main.go b/cmd/lk/main.go
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ func initLogger(ctx context.Context, cmd *cli.Command) (context.Context, error)
 	}
 	util.DetectBackground()
 
-	showBanner(ctx)
+	showBanner(ctx, cmd)
 
 	// Nudge users still on API-key auth toward the new account-based flow.
 	maybeShowUpgradeNotice(cmd, conf)

diff --git a/install-cli.sh b/install-cli.sh
@@ -13,8 +13,15 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-# LiveKit CLI installer for Linux. Downloads the latest GitHub release archive
-# and installs the binary + completions system-wide.
+# LiveKit CLI installer for Linux and macOS. Downloads the latest GitHub
+# release archive, installs the binary + completions system-wide, then installs
+# LiveKit's skills and Docs MCP server into the coding agents on this machine.
+#
+# Environment:
+#   LK_INSTALL_PATH         where to put lk (default /usr/local/bin)
+#   LK_INSTALL_SKILLS       1 installs skills even without a terminal; 0 skips them
+#   LK_INSTALL_MAX_ATTEMPTS download attempts (default 5)
+#   LK_INSTALL_RETRY_DELAY  seconds between attempts (default 2)
 
 set -u
 set -o errtrace
@@ -23,12 +30,11 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 REPO="livekit-cli"
 BIN_NAME="lk"
-INSTALL_PATH="/usr/local/bin"
-BASH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/share/bash-completion/completions"
-ZSH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/share/zsh/site-functions"
-FISH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/share/fish/vendor_completions.d"
+INSTALL_PATH="${LK_INSTALL_PATH:-/usr/local/bin}"
+INSTALL_PATH="${INSTALL_PATH%/}"
 
 log()   { printf "%b\n" "$*"; }
+warn()  { printf "%b\n" "$*" >&2; }
 abort() { printf "%s\n" "$@" >&2; exit 1; }
 
 
@@ -41,36 +47,74 @@ RETRY_DELAY="${LK_INSTALL_RETRY_DELAY:-2}"
 [[ "$RETRY_DELAY" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && [ "$RETRY_DELAY" -ge 1 ] || abort "LK_INSTALL_RETRY_DELAY must be a positive integer (seconds)"
 
 [ -n "${BASH_VERSION:-}" ] || abort "This script requires bash"
-[ -d "$INSTALL_PATH" ]     || abort "Could not install, $INSTALL_PATH doesn't exist"
 command -v curl >/dev/null || abort "cURL is required and is not found"
-command -v sha256sum >/dev/null || abort "sha256sum is required and is not found"
-command -v jq >/dev/null || abort "jq is required and is not found"
 
 OS="$(uname)"
 case "$OS" in
-  Darwin) abort "Installer not supported on MacOS, please install using Homebrew." ;;
-  Linux)  ;;
-  *)      abort "Installer is only supported on Linux." ;;
+  Darwin)
+    OS_NAME="darwin"
+    # /usr/local/bin is on macOS's default PATH (/etc/paths), but a fresh Apple
+    # silicon Mac may not have it yet; it's created below.
+    BASH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d"
+    ZSH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions"
+    FISH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/local/share/fish/vendor_completions.d"
+    ;;
+  Linux)
+    OS_NAME="linux"
+    BASH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/share/bash-completion/completions"
+    ZSH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/share/zsh/site-functions"
+    FISH_COMPLETION_PATH="/usr/share/fish/vendor_completions.d"
+    ;;
+  *) abort "Installer is only supported on Linux and macOS. On Windows, run: winget install LiveKit.LiveKitCLI" ;;
 esac
 
 case "$(uname -m)" in
-  x86_64)  ARCH="amd64" ;;
-  aarch64) ARCH="arm64" ;;
-  *)       abort "Unsupported architecture: $(uname -m)" ;;
+  x86_64)        ARCH="amd64" ;;
+  aarch64|arm64) ARCH="arm64" ;;
+  *)             abort "Unsupported architecture: $(uname -m)" ;;
 esac
 
+# macOS before 15 has shasum but not sha256sum.
+if command -v sha256sum >/dev/null; then
+  sha256() { sha256sum "$1" | awk '{print $1}'; }
+elif command -v shasum >/dev/null; then
+  sha256() { shasum -a 256 "$1" | awk '{print $1}'; }
+else
+  abort "sha256sum or shasum is required and neither was found"
+fi
+
+# Use sudo only for a directory this user can't write to (or create).
 SUDO_PREFIX=""
-if [ ! -w "$INSTALL_PATH" ]; then
-  SUDO_PREFIX="sudo"
+if [ -d "$INSTALL_PATH" ]; then
+  [ -w "$INSTALL_PATH" ] || SUDO_PREFIX="sudo"
+elif [ "$OS_NAME" = "darwin" ] || [ -n "${LK_INSTALL_PATH:-}" ]; then
+  parent="$(dirname "$INSTALL_PATH")"
+  while [ ! -d "$parent" ]; do parent="$(dirname "$parent")"; done
+  [ -w "$parent" ] || SUDO_PREFIX="sudo"
+else
+  abort "Could not install, $INSTALL_PATH doesn't exist"
+fi
+if [ -n "$SUDO_PREFIX" ]; then
   log "sudo is required to install to $INSTALL_PATH"
 fi
 
-VERSION=$(curl -fsSL --retry "$MAX_ATTEMPTS" --retry-delay "$RETRY_DELAY" https://api.github.com/repos/livekit/$REPO/releases/latest \
-  | jq -r '.tag_name' | sed 's/^v//')
+# Homebrew links lk into its prefix's bin, which on Intel Macs is /usr/local/bin.
+# Replacing that symlink would leave brew thinking its copy is still installed.
+# This script never makes lk itself a symlink (only livekit-cli), so one here is
+# another package manager's.
+if [ -L "$INSTALL_PATH/$BIN_NAME" ]; then
+  abort "$INSTALL_PATH/$BIN_NAME is a symlink, probably Homebrew's. Run \`brew uninstall livekit-cli\` first, or set LK_INSTALL_PATH to install elsewhere."
+fi
+
+# The latest release's tag, from where /releases/latest redirects. This needs
+# no API token or jq, which macOS before 15 doesn't ship.
+LATEST_URL=$(curl -fsSLI -o /dev/null -w '%{url_effective}' --retry "$MAX_ATTEMPTS" --retry-delay "$RETRY_DELAY" \
+  "https://github.com/livekit/$REPO/releases/latest")
+VERSION="${LATEST_URL##*/v}"
 
 [[ "$VERSION" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]] || abort "Invalid version: $VERSION"
 
-ARCHIVE_NAME="${BIN_NAME}_${VERSION}_linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz"
+ARCHIVE_NAME="${BIN_NAME}_${VERSION}_${OS_NAME}_${ARCH}.tar.gz"
 ARCHIVE_URL="https://github.com/livekit/$REPO/releases/download/v${VERSION}/${ARCHIVE_NAME}"
 CHECKSUMS_URL="https://github.com/livekit/$REPO/releases/download/v${VERSION}/checksums.txt"
 
@@ -90,18 +134,20 @@ curl -fsSL --retry "$MAX_ATTEMPTS" --retry-delay "$RETRY_DELAY" "$CHECKSUMS_URL"
 log "Verifying checksum..."
 expected_sum=$(awk -v f="$ARCHIVE_NAME" '$2 == f {print $1}' "$TEMP_DIR/checksums.txt")
 [ -n "$expected_sum" ] || abort "Could not find a checksum for $ARCHIVE_NAME in checksums.txt"
-actual_sum=$(sha256sum "$TEMP_DIR/$ARCHIVE_NAME" | awk '{print $1}')
+actual_sum=$(sha256 "$TEMP_DIR/$ARCHIVE_NAME")
 [ "$expected_sum" = "$actual_sum" ] || \
   abort "Checksum verification failed for $ARCHIVE_NAME (expected $expected_sum, got $actual_sum)"
 
 tar xzf "$TEMP_DIR/$ARCHIVE_NAME" -C "$TEMP_DIR"
 
+$SUDO_PREFIX mkdir -p "$INSTALL_PATH"
 $SUDO_PREFIX mv "$TEMP_DIR/$BIN_NAME" "$INSTALL_PATH/$BIN_NAME"
 $SUDO_PREFIX ln -sf "$INSTALL_PATH/$BIN_NAME" "$INSTALL_PATH/livekit-cli"
 
 # Install completions if the corresponding system directories exist. The fish
 # completion ships in the archive (no need to invoke lk to regenerate it).
-if [ -d "$TEMP_DIR/autocomplete" ]; then
+# Skipped for a custom LK_INSTALL_PATH, which is usually a user-level install.
+if [ -d "$TEMP_DIR/autocomplete" ] && [ -z "${LK_INSTALL_PATH:-}" ]; then
   [ -d "$BASH_COMPLETION_PATH" ] && \
     $SUDO_PREFIX install -m 0644 "$TEMP_DIR/autocomplete/bash_autocomplete" "$BASH_COMPLETION_PATH/livekit-cli" || true
   [ -d "$ZSH_COMPLETION_PATH" ] && \
@@ -111,3 +157,32 @@ if [ -d "$TEMP_DIR/autocomplete" ]; then
 fi
 
 log "\n$BIN_NAME is installed to $INSTALL_PATH\n"
+
+# Another lk earlier on PATH (often Homebrew's) would shadow this one.
+found="$(command -v "$BIN_NAME" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+if [ -z "$found" ]; then
+  warn "Note: $INSTALL_PATH isn't on your PATH. Add it to run \`$BIN_NAME\` by name.\n"
+elif [ "$found" != "$INSTALL_PATH/$BIN_NAME" ]; then
+  warn "Note: $found comes first on your PATH, so \`$BIN_NAME\` runs that copy, not this one."
+  warn "Remove it (for Homebrew: brew uninstall livekit-cli) or put $INSTALL_PATH earlier on PATH.\n"
+fi
+
+# Install LiveKit's skills and Docs MCP server into the coding agents on this
+# machine, so they know how to build LiveKit agents. Runs when someone is
+# watching (stdout is a terminal, since stdin is the script under curl | bash)
+# or LK_INSTALL_SKILLS=1; never in CI, as root, or with LK_INSTALL_SKILLS=0.
+# A failure here doesn't fail the install.
+install_skills="${LK_INSTALL_SKILLS:-}"
+if [ -z "$install_skills" ]; then
+  if [ -t 1 ] && [ -z "${CI:-}" ]; then install_skills=1; else install_skills=0; fi
+fi
+if [ "$install_skills" = "1" ]; then
+  if [ "$(id -u)" = "0" ]; then
+    log "Skipping LiveKit skills when installing as root; as your own user, run: lk skills install --global"
+  else
+    log "Installing LiveKit skills for your coding agents (LK_INSTALL_SKILLS=0 skips this)..."
+    if ! "$INSTALL_PATH/$BIN_NAME" skills install --global --yes; then
+      warn "Couldn't install LiveKit skills. With a coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, ...) installed, run: lk skills install --global"
+    fi
+  fi
+fi