HackerBlue CLI.

The HackerBlue CLI is the terminal way to install a Hacker Blue theme once you have purchased it. Buying on Hacker Blue gives your account a licence; the CLI signs this computer in, resolves the release your licence covers, verifies what it downloads, and writes the theme into the app you choose.

It has seven commands — list, login, logout, status, install, update and self-update — plus --help and --version. 31 themes are installable today — the list is on the homepage.

The CLI is one compiled program — there is nothing to install first and no source to fetch. It runs on Linux (x86-64 and ARM64, on any distribution), macOS (Intel and Apple silicon) and Windows (x86-64 and ARM64). Run the installer for your system; it downloads the right program, checks it against the published SHA-256 list, and puts it where you can run it — no administrator rights.

Linux and macOS

curl -fsSL https://hackerblue.dev/install.sh | sh

The program is installed as ~/.local/bin/hackerblue; if that folder is not on your PATH the installer prints the one line to add. Set HACKERBLUE_INSTALL_DIR to install somewhere else.

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://hackerblue.dev/install.ps1 | iex

The program is installed as %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\hackerblue\hackerblue.exe and that folder is added to your user PATH; open a new terminal to use it.

hackerblue 0.4.2build linux/amd64, commit 539c9b2c6742, built 2026-10-03

--version prints the version and the build — the platform, the commit and the date it was built from.

Direct downloads

Prefer to fetch it yourself? Each file is the whole program, and SHA256SUMS lists the SHA-256 of every one: compare with sha256sum (Linux), shasum -a 256 (macOS) or Get-FileHash (Windows), then make the file executable and put it on your PATH.

Updating the program

hackerblue self-update fetches the newest program and replaces itself. It refuses unless the checksum list carries a valid signature from the Hacker Blue release key and the download matches its checksum; a failure leaves the running program as it was.

The programs are not yet signed with an Apple or Microsoft developer certificate, so your operating system may warn the first time. The installers above avoid the warning on macOS and Windows; if you download a file in a browser instead, this is what to expect:

• macOS may say the program “cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified”. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway, or run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./hackerblue-darwin-arm64 once.
• Windows SmartScreen may show “Windows protected your PC”. Choose More info → Run anyway.

A compiled program can still be inspected, so the protection that matters is on the server: nothing downloads without a licence, and the checksum list is what makes sure the file you run is the file that was published.

From nothing to a working theme in three commands and one click in the browser.

Authorise this computer with Hacker Blue.   1. Open https://hackerblue.dev/activate?code=K7QW2M9X  2. Sign in if asked, then approve this device.   Activation code: K7QW2M9X Opened https://hackerblue.dev/activate?code=K7QW2M9X in your browser.The code is only good for 10 minutes.

Approve the device on that page while signed in — the CLI finishes on its own. Then install:

Hacker Blue for Obsidian 1.0.1 installed. Location        /home/you/vaults/notes/.obsidian/themes/Hacker BlueChecksum        verified (sha256) Open Obsidian → Settings → Appearance → Themes and select "Hacker Blue".Updates for this theme are included with your licence — no new purchase is needed.

1. hackerblue login — authorises this computer through your browser; you approve the device while signed in.
2. hackerblue install obsidian — finds your vault, downloads the licensed release, verifies its checksum and installs it.
3. In Obsidian, open Settings → Appearance → Themes and select Hacker Blue.

The CLI stores no password. hackerblue login authorises this computer: it asks Hacker Blue for a short activation code and opens hackerblue.dev/activate, where you approve the device while signed in to your Hacker Blue account. The page shows the requesting computer's name, system and CLI version, and takes an explicit approve or deny. The code is good for ten minutes; a headless or SSH session with no browser simply prints the URL and code to open anywhere.

Approval exchanges a device token for this computer, stored locally in credentials.json. Downloads, the status commands and updates present that token; the server stores only its hash. A licence covers up to three active devices — a fourth is refused with a pointer to your account page, where deactivating a device frees the slot. Signing a known device in again replaces its token instead of taking a new one.

hackerblue logout revokes the token server-side first, then removes the local credentials. Installed theme files are untouched and keep working.

hackerblue list

“show which themes are ready and which are coming soon” — printed the way the CLI prints it at a terminal. Piped into another program it prints one tab-separated row per app: slug, name, then available or coming-soon.

HackerBlue themes Ready to install (31)  ✓ Claude Code       claude-code  ✓ Gemini CLI        gemini-cli  ✓ OpenCode          opencode  ✓ Codex CLI         codex-cli  ✓ VS Code           vs-code  ✓ Cursor            cursor  ✓ Zed               zed  ✓ JetBrains         jetbrains  ✓ Neovim            neovim  ✓ Sublime Text      sublime-text  ✓ kitty             kitty  ✓ Ghostty           ghostty  ✓ WezTerm           wezterm  ✓ Alacritty         alacritty  ✓ Warp              warp  ✓ Konsole           konsole  ✓ foot              foot  ✓ Windows Terminal  windows-terminal  ✓ tmux              tmux  ✓ btop              btop  ✓ lazygit           lazygit  ✓ Yazi              yazi  ✓ Starship          starship  ✓ Obsidian          obsidian  ✓ Chrome            chrome  ✓ Chromium          chromium  ✓ Firefox           firefox  ✓ Brave             brave-browser  ✓ Omarchy           omarchy  ✓ Hyprland          hyprland  ✓ KDE Plasma        kde-plasma Coming soon (0) Install one with:  hackerblue install <name>

hackerblue login

“authorise this computer with Hacker Blue” — the browser-assisted device authorisation described under Authentication above. No arguments.

hackerblue logout

“revoke this computer's authorisation” — revokes the device token server-side and removes the local credentials. Installed themes keep working, and the device slot frees immediately. No arguments.

hackerblue status [app]

“show this computer's Hacker Blue state” — the account snapshot without an app, one app's detail with one. Without an app it prints the account, the licence and the device, then every theme's state on this computer:

HackerBlue Account       you@example.comLicense       HackerBlue for ObsidianDevice        laptopDevice usage  1 / 3Status        Active Themes------------------------------------Claude Code       Not installedGemini CLI        Not installedOpenCode          Not installedCodex CLI         Not installedVS Code           Not installedCursor            Not installedZed               Not installedJetBrains         Not installedNeovim            Not installedSublime Text      Not installedkitty             Not installedGhostty           Not installedWezTerm           Not installedAlacritty         Not installedWarp              Not installedKonsole           Not installedfoot              Not installedWindows Terminal  Not installedtmux              Not installedbtop              Not installedlazygit           Not installedYazi              Not installedStarship          Not installedObsidian          Installed       v1.0.1Chrome            Not installedChromium          Not installedHyprland          Not installed

With an app, one theme's detail:

HackerBlue for Obsidian Status          InstalledInstalled       1.0.1Latest          1.0.1Location        /home/you/vaults/notes/.obsidian/themes/Hacker BlueUpdate          Up to dateLicense         HackerBlue for Obsidian

Offline or logged out, the account and licence lines read Unavailable while the local installation state is still shown — a missing connection is never rendered as a missing licence.

hackerblue install <app> [--vault PATH]

“install a theme you own on this computer” — resolves the vault, downloads the licensed release, verifies it and installs it. Without --vault, the vaults Obsidian itself knows are read: one known vault is used, and several are only ever resolved by asking on a terminal. With no terminal it refuses and asks for --vault — it never guesses between vaults. --vault is validated before anything is downloaded, so a typo cannot create folders in a random directory. For codex-cli, --vault names Codex CLI's config folder — the one that holds config.toml — and without it the CLI uses CODEX_HOME, then ~/.codex. For claude-code, --vault names Claude Code's configuration folder — ~/.claude, or the one CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR names — and the one theme setting in Claude Code's configuration file is changed to select the theme, with a copy of the file kept first. For jetbrains, --vault names the plugins folder of one JetBrains IDE — ~/.local/share/JetBrains/<IDE><version> on Linux — and is required only when more than one JetBrains IDE is installed. For lazygit it names lazygit's config folder — the one that holds config.yml — and without it the CLI uses CONFIG_DIR, then $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lazygit, then ~/.config/lazygit. For yazi, it names Yazi's config folder — the one that holds theme.toml — and without it the CLI uses YAZI_CONFIG_HOME, then ~/.config/yazi; nothing else on the computer is changed:

hackerblue install obsidian --vault ~/Documents/MyVault

hackerblue self-update

“update this program to the newest hackerblue” — checks hackerblue.dev for a newer program, verifies its signature and checksum, and replaces the one you are running. It touches nothing else; installed themes are updated with hackerblue update <app>, below.

hackerblue update <app> [--vault PATH]

“update an installed theme on this computer” — fetches the latest release once and replaces each installation that is behind it. One already at the published version says so without downloading; one newer than the release is left alone. With --vault, only that vault's installation is touched:

What changed in Hacker Blue for Obsidian 1.0.1: 1.0.1 — 23 September 2026  Maintenance release — no visible changes. Hacker Blue for Obsidian updated to 1.0.1. Location        /home/you/vaults/notes/.obsidian/themes/Hacker BlueWas             1.0.0Checksum        verified (sha256) Updates for this theme are included with your licence — no new purchase is needed.

Updating never asks you to buy the theme again — the licence you already hold covers it. There is no uninstall command: removing the theme folder from the vault's .obsidian/themes/ directory is all it takes (for Claude Code, choose another theme in /theme and delete themes/hacker-blue.json from its configuration folder), and hackerblue status then reports it as not found.

hackerblue install obsidian and hackerblue update obsidian are the two commands that write, and both only ever write inside a vault's own theme folder. The order is fixed, and a failure at any step leaves the vault exactly as it was:

1. The vault. --vault names it, or Obsidian's own vault list is read — one known vault is used, several are resolved by asking on a terminal, never guessed.
2. The release. The protected release endpoint checks the device token, the active device and the licence first, so a download URL only exists for an entitled account. Without a licence the CLI prints where to buy instead.
3. The download. The artifact is streamed to a temporary file, and its SHA-256 must equal the release's — a mismatch is discarded.
4. The archive. It must be a plain zip of ordinary files (manifest.json and theme.css required) naming the version the release advertised. Absolute paths, .., symlinks and anything oversized are refused before a single file reaches the vault.
5. The placement. The release is staged inside the vault's themes directory, the previous installation is backed up, and two renames complete the install — Obsidian never sees a half-written theme.

A theme folder the CLI did not create is never replaced — the command refuses and asks you to move it aside. Sibling themes and the rest of the vault are never read or written. An installation whose recorded folder has disappeared is reinstalled by running install again; the stale record is replaced once the new files are in place.

The CLI prints plain text. What colours everything else you run — ls, git, your prompt — is the terminal, and a Hacker Blue terminal theme sets all sixteen of its colours. Below is real ls and git log output from a small demo folder and repository, drawn the way a terminal with the theme paints it.

Inbox  Projects  README.md  scratch  sync.sh

*-------.   7b1c517 Merge the six feature branches|\ \ \ \ \  | | | | | * e75ca57 Add a daily note template| | | | * | 70e0ea6 Use the Hacker Blue theme| | | | |/  | | | * / 392c096 Export to PDF| | | |/  | | * / 4b9b4fb Search inside notes| | |/  | * / 419ef46 Tidy the tag panel| |/  * / c7e74df Sync on save|/  * 60bc9ba Start the vault

The CLI keeps small JSON files under your OS user config directory, and never stores a password, a Whop token or a hardware identifier — the device UUID is random, generated on first run.

• device.json device identity

  The random device UUID, a display name, and when it was created. Survives logout, so the next login re-authorises the same device.

• credentials.json device token

  The device token, the account and API it belongs to, and when it was issued. Removed by hackerblue logout.

• installs.json install records

  One record per installed theme — platform, version, folder, vault, checksum. Written by install/update, read by status; it survives logout because the installation does.

• backups/ update backups

  The theme folder as it was before an update replaced it — kept outside the vault so Obsidian never sees it as a theme. Remove old backups by hand if you want the space.

Where the files live: ~/.config/hackerblue on Linux, %APPDATA%\hackerblue on Windows, or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/hackerblue when that variable is set. $HACKERBLUE_CONFIG_DIR moves the whole directory. On POSIX the directory is created with mode 0700 and the token-bearing files with mode 0600, replaced atomically so a crash cannot leave a half-written token.

Linux on x86-64 and ARM64 (static, so it runs on any distribution, glibc or musl), macOS on Intel and Apple silicon, and Windows on x86-64 and ARM64. App config locations are resolved per platform (XDG on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support on macOS, %APPDATA% on Windows).

A session with no display and no Wayland compositor — a server or an SSH session — gets the activation URL printed instead of an opened browser, always safe to open on another device.