Install bidsmith

bidsmith is a single command-line binary. Once installed you’ll be able to run bidsmith from any terminal.

macOS

The easiest path is Homebrew. If you don’t have Homebrew yet, install it first:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Then install bidsmith from its tap:

brew install chrmod/tap/bidsmith

Confirm it worked:

bidsmith --version

You should see a version number like bidsmith 0.5.0.

Tip

Homebrew handles upgrades for you. brew upgrade chrmod/tap/bidsmith pulls the latest release. Run it once a month or whenever you see a release announcement.

Linux

The easiest path is Homebrew on Linux. If you don’t have it yet:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Then:

brew install chrmod/tap/bidsmith
bidsmith --version

Alternative — download the binary directly: Visit the releases page, grab the bidsmith-linux-x86_64 (or aarch64) tarball, extract it, and move the binary onto your $PATH:

curl -L -o bidsmith.tar.gz \
  https://github.com/chrmod/bidsmith/releases/latest/download/bidsmith-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar -xzf bidsmith.tar.gz
sudo mv bidsmith /usr/local/bin/
bidsmith --version

Windows

Caution

Native Windows binaries are coming soon — tracked in the project roadmap. Until then, the documented path is WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), which gives you a real Linux environment inside Windows in a few minutes.

1. Install WSL. Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

   wsl --install

   This installs Ubuntu by default. Reboot when prompted. On first boot Ubuntu will ask you to pick a Linux username and password. See Microsoft’s WSL install guide for screenshots and troubleshooting.

2. Open Ubuntu from the Start menu. You’re now in a Linux terminal that lives inside Windows.

3. Follow the Linux instructions above. Install Homebrew, then brew install chrmod/tap/bidsmith.

4. Use bidsmith from Ubuntu. Your .bid files can live anywhere — inside the Linux filesystem (faster) or on your Windows filesystem under /mnt/c/Users/<you>/... (more convenient if you also edit them in VS Code on Windows).

Did it work?

If bidsmith --version printed a version, you’re done with this page.

If you saw command not found or similar:

• macOS / Linux: open a new terminal window. Homebrew adds itself to your shell config, but the change only applies to terminals opened after the install.
• Windows / WSL: same — close Ubuntu and reopen it.
• Still stuck? Double-check brew --version works. If Homebrew itself isn’t found, re-run the Homebrew install command from the top of this page.

Next up

Set up GitHub — you’ll need a Git repository to store your .bid files.