mise¶

# Install — lands in ~/.local/bin, no root required
curl https://mise.run | sh                              # (1)!

# Activate for zsh (add to ~/.zshrc)
echo 'eval "$(mise activate zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc          # (2)!

# Global tool installs
mise use -g node@22 python@3.14                         # (3)!

# See what is installed and active here
mise ls                                                 # (4)!

# Upgrade everything mise manages
mise up                                                 # (5)!

1. Single static binary; the install script never touches system packages.
2. Activation hooks your shell PATH per directory — bash users swap zsh for bash.
3. -g writes to ~/.config/mise/config.toml; omit it to pin inside the current project instead.
4. Shows installed versions plus which one is active for this directory.
5. Short for upgrade; run it periodically or pin deliberately and skip it.

Real talk:

• Activation is not optional decoration — without it, mise-managed binaries are not on PATH.
• Trust prompts exist for a reason: review unknown .mise.toml files before accepting.
• mise doctor diagnoses PATH problems faster than staring at dotfiles.

Pin an entire toolchain for a project in one committed file:

# .mise.toml — commit this
[tools]
terraform = "1.15"
tflint = "0.64"
python = "3.14"

[tasks.lint]
run = ["terraform fmt -check -recursive", "tflint --recursive"]

Then everyone — humans and CI — gets identical versions:

mise use terraform@1.15.8 tflint@0.64   # writes the block above

# CI bootstrap is one line
mise install

# Run project tasks
mise run lint

Why this works:

• One file pins every tool, so laptop and pipeline cannot drift apart.
• mise install is idempotent — safe at the top of any CI job.
• Tasks replace Makefile boilerplate for dev commands while keeping real builds where they belong.

Tips:

• mise x -- terraform plan runs any command with the project's tools without permanent activation.
• Version strings accept partial pins — "0.64" tracks the newest 0.64.x patch.
• Backends matter for speed: aqua and native downloads beat asdf-plugin builds.

Gotchas:

• Do not mix activation with manually adding the shims dir to PATH — pick one mechanism or fight ghosts.
• IDE integrated terminals do not inherit activation automatically; configure them or run mise activate there too.
• Tools installed through legacy asdf plugins compile from source more often than you would like.