steinwaywhw/One Liner to Download the Latest Release from Github Repo.md

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One Liner to Download the Latest Release from Github Repo

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One Liner to Download the Latest Release from Github Repo.md

Use curl to get the JSON response for the latest release
Use grep to find the line containing file URL
Use cut and tr to extract the URL
Use wget to download it

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/jgm/pandoc/releases/latest \
| grep "browser_download_url.*deb" \
| cut -d : -f 2,3 \
| tr -d \" \
| wget -qi -

motdotla commented Jun 19, 2024

This is it

wget https://github.com/aquasecurity/tfsec/releases/latest/download/tfsec-linux-amd64

this is the best solution. thank you @joshjohanning. everything else is unnecessarily complicated for users and could trip them up because of different shell versions and lack of installed libs like jq.

add in a bit of uname magic and all your users are good to go.

curl -L -o dotenvx.tar.gz "https://github.com/dotenvx/dotenvx/releases/latest/download/dotenvx-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m).tar.gz"
tar -xzf dotenvx.tar.gz
./dotenvx help

bruteforks commented Jun 22, 2024

Since this gist is still very active, here's one I've made recently:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Fetch the latest release version
latest_version=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/vscode-js-debug/releases/latest | grep -oP '"tag_name": "\K(.*)(?=")')

# Remove the 'v' prefix from the version number
version=${latest_version#v}

# Construct the download URL
download_url="https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-js-debug/releases/download/${latest_version}/js-debug-dap-${latest_version}.tar.gz"

# Download the tar.gz file
curl -L -o "js-debug-dap-${version}.tar.gz" "$download_url"

initiateit commented Jul 17, 2024 •

edited

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Just curl and grep:

https://github.com/caddyserver/xcaddy/releases/download/v0.4.2/xcaddy_0.4.2_linux_amd64.deb

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/aptly-dev/aptly/releases/latest | grep '"browser_download_url":' | grep 'amd64.deb' | grep -o 'https://[^"]*'

https://github.com/aptly-dev/aptly/releases/download/v1.5.0/aptly_1.5.0_amd64.deb

My apologies if it borrows from other answers.

adriangalilea commented Jul 19, 2024

dra is making huge strides in simplifying the download process.

@NiceGuyIT thanks for bringing it up.

timur-g commented Aug 5, 2024 •

edited

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Nice examples, thanks to all. Stil, not always is "browser_download_url" available.
Also, we should assume that *.deb is not enough, rather use amd64.deb or x86_64.deb.
It would be nice if we had permanent file name, to directly use wget of download link, but we also have file names with version.
lastversion works, just it has not in-built install for deb as for rpm.

Here is the example I assume should work for install of https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/latest (which does not work with most of solutions):
curl -sL https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/latest | grep "https.*releases/download.*amd64\|x86_64\.deb" | grep -oP 'href="\Khttps:.+?"' | sed 's/"//' | wget -i-

Or:
curl -sL https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/latest | grep -wo "https.*x86_64.deb\|https.*amd64.deb"

dkebler commented Aug 15, 2024

I know this gist is for latest regular release but what if you need the latest pre-release like at tasmota/install where certain assets are ONLY built in pre-releases and not in the regular ones. I was unable to get lastversion to do this even with pre-release option because of how the CI generated the pre-releases.

So for example.

unset dev
if [[ $1 == "--dev" ]]; then
dev=true 
shift 1
fi

chip=${1@L}
[[ $chip ]] && chip=${chip@L}
type=$2
bin=tasmota32$chip$([[ $type ]] && echo "-$type").factory.bin    

if ls $bin >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
   echo $bin already exists locally so using it.
   echo delete $bin first and run again to pull the latest   
else
   if [[ $dev ]]; then
       echo downloading $bin from latest dev release
       url=$(curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/tasmota/install/releases | grep "browser_download_url\": \"" | grep $bin | head -1 | sed 's/^.*: //' | xargs) 
       echo downloading $url
       if ! wget -O $bin "$url"; then
        echo can not find any assest for $bin at Tasmota Github Install Repo
        exit  
       fi
   else
      echo pulling latest regular release version of $bin
      url=http://ota.tasmota.com/tasmota32/release/$bin
      if ! wget -O $bin $url; then
      echo could not download $bin
      echo might be a development only binary try using --dev flag
      exit
      fi
   fi
fi

smallest-quark commented Sep 2, 2024 •

edited

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Another one liner only using only wget and downloading the first (newest file from the releases):

wget -qO- --max-redirect=10 https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases | grep -wo "https.*x86_64.deb\|https.*amd64.deb" | head -n 1 | xargs -I {} wget -O test.deb {}

kwalker99 commented Sep 16, 2024

not my original idea, but another way of doing this... never seen jq before, i love json so this will become a new fav...

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/bitwarden/clients/releases/latest | jq -r '.assets[] | select(.name | contains ("zip")) | .browser_download_url' | head -n 1 | xargs -I {} wget {}

maxadamo commented Sep 16, 2024 •

edited

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does anyone realize that piping multiple commands (from 4 up to 10) is not elegant?
And the more you insist, the more it looks bad.

1 pipe and 2 commands (curl, awk) is enough, is more effective, and it does not require installing additional tools:

URL="https://api.github.com/repos/jgraph/drawio-desktop/releases/latest"

curl -s $URL | awk -F\" '/browser_download_url.*.deb/{system("curl -OL " $(NF-1))}'

In this case it fetches two artifacts: one for ARM one for AMD64, but if you want to fetch only one artifact, you don't need another 3 pipes, and you do as follows:

URL="https://api.github.com/repos/jgraph/drawio-desktop/releases/latest"

curl -s $URL | awk -F\" '/browser_download_url.*.deb/&&/amd64/{system("curl -OL " $(NF-1))}'

0wwafa commented Oct 12, 2024 •

edited

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Lol...
If you have the filname just do:

https://github.com/<USER>/<REPO>/releases/latest/download/<FILE_NAME>

example:

wget https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64

PureOcean commented Dec 13, 2024

Sometimes newer versions than the latest ones are released as pre-release in repos.

An example, (Powershell) command to always download the newer version even if it is pre-release:

powershell -c "(Invoke-RestMethod -uri https://api.github.com/repos/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/releases)[0].assets.browser_download_url | Where-Object {$_ -like '*OpenShellSetup*'}"

aadipoddar commented Dec 22, 2024

Update Manager Class For C# APP using Github

Release the MSI after every release and update new version number to the readme file

Refer to the Gist:- Update Manager Class

Refer to the Repo:- Github Repo

private static async Task<string> GetLatestVersionFromGithub()
{
	string fileUrl = "url_containing_latest_version_number";

	using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
	{
		string cacheBuster = DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks.ToString();
		string requestUrl = $"{fileUrl}?cb={cacheBuster}";
		return await client.GetStringAsync(requestUrl);
	}
}

private static void UpdateApp(string filePath)
{
	string batchFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "update.bat");

	string batchScript = $@"
                         @echo off
                         echo Uninstalling program...
                         msiexec /x {{product_code_of_your_app}} /qb

                         echo Starting setup file...
                         start """" ""{filePath}""                            
                         ";

	File.WriteAllText(batchFilePath, batchScript);
	Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo(batchFilePath) { UseShellExecute = true });
	Environment.Exit(0);
}

private static async Task DownloadLatestVersion()
{
	var url = "https://github.com/{user_name}/{repo_name}/releases/latest/download/{name_of_msi}.msi";
	var filePath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop), "PubEntrySetup.msi");

	using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
	using (HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync(url, HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead))
	using (Stream streamToReadFrom = await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync())
	using (Stream streamToWriteTo = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Create))
		await streamToReadFrom.CopyToAsync(streamToWriteTo);


	UpdateApp(filePath);
}

public static async Task CheckForUpdates()
{
	string fileContent = await GetLatestVersionFromGithub();

	if (fileContent.Contains("Latest Version = "))
	{
		string latestVersion = fileContent.Substring(fileContent.IndexOf("Latest Version = ") + 17, 7);
		string currentVersion = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Version.ToString();
		if (latestVersion != currentVersion)
			if (MessageBox.Show("New Version Available. Do you want to update?", "Update Available", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) == DialogResult.Yes)
				await DownloadLatestVersion();
	}
}

deltqz commented Feb 2, 2025 •

edited

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From batch scripts on Windows, you can call PowerShell without directly using its shell.:

First download grep.exe from this fairly popular but unmantained repo -because findstr sucks-

powershell iwr https://github.com/bmatzelle/gow/raw/refs/heads/master/bin/grep.exe -OutFile grep.exe

Then you can download your files like this.

set url=https://api.github.com/repos/user/repo/releases/latest
powershell irm %url% | grep -o 'https.*download.*zip' | powershell iwr -OutFile file.zip

Just replace user/repo and zip.

Adamkaram commented Mar 15, 2025

for filtring and download something like beta release

dafanasiev commented May 27, 2025

for the latest version with a known file naming scheme:

PATCHELF_VERSION=$(curl -sLI https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/latest | grep -iP 'location.*tag' | grep -oP '\d+\.\d+\.\d+' | tail -1) \
&& curl -sL --output patchelf.tar.gz https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/download/${PATCHELF_VERSION}/patchelf-${PATCHELF_VERSION}-x86_64.tar.gz

antofthy commented May 27, 2025

for the latest version with a known file naming scheme:

PATCHELF_VERSION=$(curl -sLI https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/latest | grep -iP 'location.*tag' | grep -oP '\d+\.\d+\.\d+' | tail -1) \
&& curl -sL --output patchelf.tar.gz https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/download/${PATCHELF_VERSION}/patchelf-${PATCHELF_VERSION}-x86_64.tar.gz

Removed the double grep, with a sed

PATCHELF_VERSION=$(curl -sLI https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/latest | sed '/location: .*\/tag\//!d; s///' | tail -1) &&
curl -sL --output patchelf.tar.gz https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/download/${PATCHELF_VERSION}/patchelf-${PATCHELF_VERSION}-x86_64.tar.gz

dafanasiev commented May 28, 2025

for the latest version with a known file naming scheme:

PATCHELF_VERSION=$(curl -sLI https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/latest | grep -iP 'location.*tag' | grep -oP '\d+\.\d+\.\d+' | tail -1) \
&& curl -sL --output patchelf.tar.gz https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/download/${PATCHELF_VERSION}/patchelf-${PATCHELF_VERSION}-x86_64.tar.gz

Removed the double grep, with a sed

PATCHELF_VERSION=$(curl -sLI https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/latest | sed '/location: .*\/tag\//!d; s///' | tail -1) &&
curl -sL --output patchelf.tar.gz https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/download/${PATCHELF_VERSION}/patchelf-${PATCHELF_VERSION}-x86_64.tar.gz

++ case-insensitive location: match
++ remove regex escapes

PATCHELF_VERSION=$(curl -sLI https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/latest | sed '\|location:.*/tag/|I!d; s|||' | tail -1) \
&& curl -sL --output patchelf.tar.gz https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/download/${PATCHELF_VERSION}/patchelf-${PATCHELF_VERSION}-x86_64.tar.gz

antofthy commented May 29, 2025

Actually instead of sed I could have just merge the two greps directly, using perl '\K' regex escape!

 PATCHELF_VERSION=$(curl -sLI https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/latest | grep -ioP 'location.*/tag/\K\d+\.\d+\.\d+' | tail -1) \
&& curl -sL --output patchelf.tar.gz https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases/download/${PATCHELF_VERSION}/patchelf-${PATCHELF_VERSION}-x86_64.tar.gz

There are lots of ways to skin a cat, and what method you use depends
on what you want that skin for, and how messy you like the results!
                                                   -- Anthony Thyssen

Mr-Bossman commented Jun 4, 2025

Not sure why everyone is using grep when sed can do everything.

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/<user>/<repo>/releases/latest | sed -n 's/"browser_download_url": //p' | xargs wget

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/<user>/<repo>/releases/latest | sed -n 's/"browser_download_url": "\(.*\)"$/\1/p' | wget -i-

aristotaloss commented Jun 22, 2025

Actual 'one-liner'; you don't need tools:

https://github.com/$OWNER/$REPO/releases/latest/download/$FILENAME

Example:
https://github.com/monarch-initiative/monarch-ingest/releases/latest/download/monarch-kg.tar.gz

maxadamo commented Jun 22, 2025

Actual 'one-liner'; you don't need tools:

https://github.com/$OWNER/$REPO/releases/latest/download/$FILENAME

do you really think hundreds of people are completely dumb and did not figure out something so simple? 😸
The whole point is to guess $FILENAME, becuse you don't know in advance what the latest version is.

Mr-Bossman commented Jun 22, 2025

I mean in his particular case it does work bc the maintainers decided to keep the filename the same for every release. Not a portable option IMO but if you are the repo owner it works.

aristotaloss commented Jun 22, 2025

@maxadamo bro pipe the fuck down

maxadamo commented Jun 22, 2025 •

edited

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I mean in his particular case it does work bc the maintainers decided to keep the filename the same for every release. Not a portable option IMO but if you are the repo owner it works.

That would be another topic, on another thread: "how do I download an artifact if the filename doesn't change."
The case we are discussing is very clear and it's pretty different.
And it's really unimportant if you use sed, grep, jq, because everything woks. Maybe one pipe should be enough, but if you are not seeking for extreme optimization, it's purely stylistic.

For instance I rather like the AWK approach:

REPO='jgraph/drawio-desktop'
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/${REPO}/releases/latest | awk -F\" '/browser_download_url.*.deb/{print $(NF-1)}'

again, we are hundreds of people, not having much else todo, and playing to find different solutions, but we're not hundreds of idiots. This thread is 8 year old and if there was a simpler solution someone else would have found it in 8 years.

silverwind commented Jul 28, 2025 •

edited

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Adding my variant for downloading and installing latest .tar.gz on Linux for oddly named package names:

curl -fsSL "$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/aquasecurity/trivy/releases/latest | jq -r '.assets[] | select(.name? | match("tar.gz$")) | .browser_download_url' | grep Linux-$([[ $(uname -m) = "aarch64" ]] && echo "ARM64" || echo "64bit"))" | tar -xz -C /usr/local/bin --

A better solution can only come if GitHub allows to specify variants like OS, architecture etc. as part of the release asset upload process.

steinwaywhw/One Liner to Download the Latest Release from Github Repo.md

motdotla commented Jun 19, 2024

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antofthy commented May 29, 2025

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Mr-Bossman commented Jun 4, 2025

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