Fabric is an open-source framework designed to augment human capabilities using AI. It provides a modular system for tackling various problems through a crowdsourced collection of AI prompts, known as Patterns. To learn more about the project's vision, visit the Fabric Overview page.

This guide will walk you through the steps to get Fabric installed and running on your system, enabling you to start leveraging its powerful AI augmentation features.

Installation

One-Line Install (Recommended)

The quickest way to get Fabric up and running is by using the provided one-line installers.

Unix/Linux/macOS:

Windows PowerShell:

For custom installation options and troubleshooting, refer to the scripts/installer/README.md in the Fabric repository.

Manual Binary Downloads

If you prefer to download the binaries directly, you can find the latest release archives and their expected SHA256 hashes on the GitHub releases page↗.

Using Package Managers

Fabric is also available through popular package managers on various operating systems.

Note: When using Homebrew or the Arch Linux package managers, Fabric is installed as fabric-ai. To use the fabric command directly, add the following alias to your shell startup files (e.g., .zshrc, .bashrc):

macOS (Homebrew)

Arch Linux (AUR)

Windows

Use the official Microsoft-supported Winget tool:

From Source

Fabric is written in Go. To install it from source, ensure you have Go installed on your system. You can find Go installation instructions on the official Go website↗.

Once Go is installed, run the following command:

Environment Variables

You might need to set up Go environment variables in your shell's configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc).

For Intel-based Macs or Linux:

For Apple Silicon-based Macs:

Docker

You can run Fabric using pre-built Docker images from Docker Hub or GitHub Container Registry (GHCR).

For building custom images and advanced Docker configurations, refer to the scripts/docker/README.md in the Fabric repository.

Setup Fabric

After installing Fabric using one of the methods above, you need to run the setup command to initialize your configuration directories and API keys:

This command will guide you through configuring your AI vendors, downloading default Patterns, and setting up other essential components. If everything works correctly, you're ready to go!

Basic Usage Example

Once Fabric is installed and configured, you can start using it to augment your daily tasks. Here's a basic example using pbpaste (or its alternatives on Windows and Linux) to summarize content from your clipboard:

This command will:

Read the content currently in your clipboard (pbpaste).
Pipe that content as input to the fabric command.
Execute the summarize pattern, which will process the input and provide a summary.

For more detailed information on command-line operations, flags, and advanced usage, please refer to the CLI Usage Guide.

Next Steps

Now that you have Fabric installed, explore these pages to deepen your understanding and unleash its full potential:

Patterns and Prompting: Learn about Fabric's core concept of "Patterns" and how to effectively use AI prompts.
CLI Usage Guide: Get a comprehensive overview of all command-line options and examples.
Custom Patterns: Discover how to create and manage your own custom AI patterns.

Getting Started