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Vorto is distributed as a single static binary. The recommended way to install it is with mise or Homebrew — both download a prebuilt release binary with every built-in tree-sitter grammar embedded, so syntax highlighting works the moment you open a file. You can also grab a prebuilt archive by hand from the releases page, or build it yourself from crates.io with Cargo or from the source repository; those build paths require a Rust toolchain that supports edition 2024 and build grammars on demand instead of bundling them.
A prebuilt binary needs no C compiler — grammars ship pre-compiled inside it. mise, Homebrew, and the releases page all deliver one. A C compiler (such as gcc or clang) is only required if you install with cargo or from source, because those builds compile each tree-sitter grammar the first time you install it with vorto grammar install. See Installing a C compiler for per-OS instructions.

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Install with mise

mise downloads the prebuilt binary for your platform from the GitHub releases and pins the version per project:
This installs the latest release and adds Vorto to the active mise environment so the vorto binary is on your PATH. Run the command inside a project directory to scope the version to that project, or pass -g to install it globally. Because mise fetches a release binary, the built-in grammars come embedded — no separate install step.

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Install with Homebrew

Homebrew installs the prebuilt binary from the Vorto tap:
Or tap first, then install:
Upgrade later with brew upgrade vorto. Like the mise install, the formula fetches a release binary, so the built-in grammars come embedded — no separate install step. Prebuilt formulae cover macOS (Apple Silicon), Linux x86-64, and Linux ARM64; on Intel macOS, install from crates.io or build from source instead.

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Download a prebuilt binary

Each release publishes a tar.gz archive per platform on the GitHub releases page. Prebuilt binaries are available for: Download the archive for your platform, extract it, and move the vorto binary to a directory on your PATH:
Like the mise and Homebrew installs, these binaries ship with all built-in grammars embedded. If your platform isn’t listed (for example macOS on Intel, or Windows), install from crates.io or build from source instead.

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Install from crates.io

Installing with Cargo is not recommended for most users. The binary on crates.io is built without the embedded grammars, so you must install each language’s grammar at runtime with vorto grammar install — which needs a C compiler and network access. Prefer mise, Homebrew, or a prebuilt binary unless you specifically need a source build (for example, an unsupported platform, or to build from a local checkout).
To build and install from crates.io with Cargo:
Cargo downloads, compiles, and places the vorto binary in ~/.cargo/bin. Make sure that directory is on your PATH. Because this build does not bundle grammars, install the ones you need afterward with vorto grammar install — see Install and manage grammars.

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Install from source

1

Clone the repository

2

Build and install

Choose one of the two methods below:
make install places the binary at ~/.local/bin/vorto. Make sure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH.cargo build --release produces the binary at target/release/vorto. Copy it to a directory on your PATH manually.A plain source build does not embed grammars, so you’ll install them on demand with vorto grammar install. To reproduce the release binary with grammars baked in, build every grammar first and turn on the feature:

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Verify the installation

Run the following command to confirm Vorto is installed and accessible:
You should see output like vorto 0.15.3. If the command is not found, check that the install directory is included in your PATH.

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What the binary includes

A prebuilt binary (from mise, Homebrew, or the releases page) ships with tree-sitter grammars for all 44 built-in languages embedded. On first launch Vorto extracts them into ~/.config/vorto/grammars/ and ~/.config/vorto/queries/, so highlighting is on from the very first file — no install step, no compiler, no network. The extraction re-runs after you upgrade Vorto to pick up refreshed grammars, and it never overwrites a grammar you’ve repointed with a [grammars.<name>] config entry. Language servers are never bundled. To turn on LSP features — diagnostics, completion, goto definition — install the matching language server and make sure its binary is on your PATH. See Set up LSP support.
If you installed with cargo or from source instead, install a language’s grammar before you open your first file so syntax highlighting is on from the start, e.g. vorto grammar install rust. See Install and manage grammars.