Verifying your install

grit version, grit --help, and how to update later.

3 mineasy

Three quick commands and you're ready for chapter 2. This lesson is the "does my install actually work" sanity check, plus how to keep grit up to date once you start using it daily.

1. Version check

Terminal

$grit version

Should print grit version 3.25.x or later. If it says 3.24.x or older, run grit update first — SQLite support, scaffolded random secrets, and the one-line install script all landed in 3.25.

2. Help — see what grit can do

Terminal

$grit --help

You should see a printed list including (at minimum):

Available Commands:
  new            Scaffold a new Grit project
  new-desktop    Scaffold a Wails desktop app
  generate       Generate a resource (model + handler + service + types + ...)
  sync           Sync Go types → TypeScript
  migrate        Run database migrations
  seed           Seed the database
  start          Start dev servers
  update         Update the Grit CLI to the latest version
  deploy         Deploy to a VPS
  version        Print the grit CLI version

Every command also takes --help for its own flags. Try grit new --help — you'll see the architecture choices we'll cover in chapter 5.

3. Update check — the command you'll use most

Terminal

$grit update

Hits GitHub's release API, compares the latest tag to the version of the binary running this command, and either updates in place or exits with "Already on the latest version. Nothing to do."

Make a habit of running this once a week. New features ship regularly; grit update is a single HTTP round-trip when there's nothing to do, so the cost is essentially zero.

What if something goes wrong?

The two most common issues:

"command not found" — your PATH didn't pick up the install dir. Open a new terminal first. If that doesn't fix it, re-read the install lesson's exercise solution.
"permission denied" on macOS / Linux when grit update runs — the install dir requires sudo. The install script's default location ($HOME/.local/bin) is user-owned, so you should never hit this. If you do, the script probably installed to /usr/local/bin; re-run with sudo or reinstall to $HOME/.local/bin.

Quick check

You ran `grit update` and it says 'Already on the latest version. Nothing to do.' What just happened?

Try it

Run all three sanity checks and capture proof:

Run grit version and paste output in notes.md.
Run grit --help and copy the list of commands into notes.md.
Run grit update and paste its output too — if it says "Already on the latest version", that's the success state.

You've now completed chapter 1's assignment. Look at the sidebar — ch.1 Assignment: Install Grit and capture proof is the next link. Click it to see the success criteria and tick them off.

What's next

Chapter 2 — your first real Grit project. We'll scaffold a project, tour every folder it produces, start the dev servers, and log into the admin panel. By the end of the chapter you'll have a working full-stack app in your browser.

Spot a typo? Have an idea?

Help us improve this lesson. One click opens a GitHub issue with the lesson URL pre-filled — suggest clearer wording, report a bug, or request more depth. The course keeps improving thanks to learners like you.

Suggest an improvement on GitHub

Previous lesson Next lesson