> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.apostate.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Command line > The apostate command from the Python and Node packages: every command and option, and where the two differ. Both packages install a command named `apostate`. The Python package's runs as `apostate` or `python3 -m apostate`. The Node package's runs as `npx apostate`, or `apostate` when the package is installed globally. With both installed, `apostate` runs whichever comes first on `PATH`. They share the browser install in the cache directory, so installing with one serves the other. ```bash theme={null} apostate --version ``` ```text theme={null} apostate 0.4.3 (Chromium 152.0.7977.83) ``` ## Global options | Option | Effect | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `--cache-dir DIR` | Use `DIR` as the install cache instead of the per-OS default or `APOSTATE_CACHE_DIR`. | | `--manifest SRC` | Use this release manifest instead of the one inside the package. Python takes a JSON file path. Node takes a JSON file path or a URL. | | `--target TARGET` | `linux-x64`, `linux-arm64`, `macos-arm64` or `windows-x64`. Defaults to this host. | | `--version` | Print the package and Chromium versions. Node also takes `-v`. | | `--help`, `-h` | Print the usage. | In the Python CLI, global options go before the command, as in `apostate --cache-dir ./cache install`. The Node CLI reads them anywhere on the line before a `--`. ## `install` ```bash theme={null} apostate install [--force] [--keep-archive] ``` Downloads the browser archive for the target, checks its SHA-256 against the release manifest before opening it, extracts it into the cache, and prints the executable's path. It then gives the browser a Widevine CDM, from a local Google Chrome or from Google's component update service. When a browser is already installed or found in a [well-known location](/installation), it downloads nothing and prints that path. | Option | Effect | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `--force` | Download and install again, even when a browser is found. | | `--keep-archive` | Keep the verified archive beside the install, for `gh attestation verify`. Same as `APOSTATE_KEEP_ARCHIVE=1`. | ## `path` ```bash theme={null} apostate path ``` Prints the path of the browser executable a launch would use, and installs it first when none is found. It does not install the Widevine CDM. A browser the package installed sits at `/152.0.7977.83//install/`, as `chrome` on Linux, `chrome.exe` on Windows and `Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium` on macOS. ## `info` ```bash theme={null} apostate info ``` Prints the install, discovery and manifest state as JSON, and never fails for a missing release. Run it when a launch downloads a browser you thought was installed. `discovery.rejected` says why each browser it found was passed over. The keys are the ones [`binary_info()`](/reference/python-api#binary_info) and [`binaryInfo()`](/reference/node-api#binaryinfo) return. The two CLIs differ in a few keys: | Python | Node | | ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | `cached` | `cache_hit` | | `reason`, only when no archive is available | `reason`, always present, `null` when nothing failed | | | `target`, the same as `platform` | ## `clear` ```bash theme={null} apostate clear ``` Deletes the install cache. In the Python CLI it deletes the whole cache directory, including the stored Widevine CDM. In the Node CLI, `--target` limits it to that target's install. ## `run` ```bash theme={null} apostate run -- [browser switches] ``` Runs the browser with the switches that follow `--`, installing it first when none is found and giving it a Widevine CDM when it has none. The browser owns the terminal, and its exit status is the command's. ```bash theme={null} apostate run -- --fingerprint=42 --fingerprint-platform=windows --fingerprint-explain ``` `run` passes the switches through unchanged. It adds no seed, locale, timezone, proxy handling or `--no-first-run`, which the packages' launch functions add. [Switches](/reference/switches) lists what to pass. * **Python.** The published 0.4.3 CLI needs the `--`. Without it, 0.4.3 prints its usage and exits with status 2. From 0.4.4 everything after `run` goes to the browser, with or without `--`. Every `--` on the line is dropped in both versions. * **Node.** Everything after `run` goes to the browser, except the CLI's own options (`--cache-dir`, `--manifest`, `--target`, `--from`, `--force`, `--keep-archive`, `--version`, `-v`, `--help`, `-h`), which the CLI reads wherever they are before a `--`. The first `--` is dropped. `apostate run --version` prints the package version, and `apostate run -- --version` prints the browser's. With `--user-data-dir=DIR` among the switches, `run` also writes the Widevine CDM's location into `DIR` on Linux. ## `fonts install windows` ```bash theme={null} apostate fonts install windows [--from DIR] ``` Installs the families of the Windows persona's core font pack into this user's font directory, `~/.local/share/fonts/apostate-windows` on Linux and `~/Library/Fonts/apostate-windows` on macOS. [Fonts](/guides/fonts) explains why a Windows persona needs them. * Without `--from`, it clones `github.com/MauCariApa-com/windows-11-fonts` with `git`, so `git` must be installed. * `--from DIR` takes the fonts from a Windows `Fonts` folder instead. * It installs only files whose family is in the core pack, and removes other files an earlier version put in the directory. * On Linux it runs `fc-cache -f`, so fontconfig must be installed. * It then lists the core families the host still lacks. * On a Windows host it does nothing, because the fonts are already there. From 0.4.4, it also downloads the Windows 11 Marlett, which the repository lacks, from the `liblaf/fonts` Win11 release. It reads only that file out of the release zip, about 80 KB, and installs it only when its SHA-256 matches. When that fails, it says so and installs the rest. ## `fonts install macos` ```bash theme={null} apostate fonts install macos --from DIR ``` Installs the fonts that `fonts export-macos` wrote on a Mac into `~/.local/share/fonts/apostate-macos` on a Linux host, and runs `fc-cache -f`. `--from` is required. On a Mac it does nothing. On Windows it fails. ## `fonts export-macos` ```bash theme={null} apostate fonts export-macos DIR ``` On a Mac, copies the system's font files into `DIR`, one file per name. Copy `DIR` to the Linux host and run `fonts install macos --from DIR` there. It fails on any other OS. ## `provision-drm` Python only. ```bash theme={null} apostate provision-drm [--source DIR] [--list] ``` Installs a Widevine CDM into this package's browser now, replacing any it has, and prints the result as JSON. A launch does the same on its own when the browser has none. Unlike a launch, it fails when no CDM can be had. [Widevine](/guides/widevine) explains when to run it. | Option | Effect | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `--source DIR` | Install the CDM from this `WidevineCdm` directory, with or without a version directory inside. Without it, the CDM comes from a local Google Chrome or Chromium profile, else from Google. | | `--list` | List the CDMs on this machine, one per line with version, size in bytes and path, and exit. It exits with status 1 when there are none. | On `windows-x64` it also prints `warning: Widevine has not been verified on windows-x64 yet` on stderr. In Node, call [`provisionWidevine()`](/reference/node-api#provisionwidevine). ## Exit status | Status | Python | Node | | ------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | 0 | Success. | Success. | | 1 | An Apostate error, printed as `apostate: `, or `provision-drm --list` found nothing. | Any error, printed as `apostate: `, or no command given. | | 2 | Invalid usage, such as an unknown command or option. | An unknown command. | | 130 | Interrupted with Ctrl+C. | | For `run`, the status is the browser's. The Python CLI replaces its own process with the browser on Linux and macOS. The Node CLI exits with the browser's status, or 1 when a signal ended it. ## Differences between the two CLIs | | Python | Node | | ----------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | | `provision-drm` | yes | no, use `provisionWidevine()` | | `--manifest` | file path | file path or URL | | Global options | before the command | anywhere before `--` | | `run` without `--` | from 0.4.4 | yes | | `--target` with `clear` | ignored, deletes the whole cache | deletes that target only | | `info` | `cached` | `cache_hit`, `target`, `reason` |