self

Self-management commands for the CLI

The self command provides subcommands for managing the squirrel CLI itself: installation, updates, diagnostics, and settings.

Subcommands

install - Bootstrap local installation
update - Check and apply updates
completion - Generate shell completions
doctor - Run health checks
disk - Report what ~/.squirrel is using
version - Show version information
settings - Manage CLI settings
uninstall - Remove squirrel from system

install

Bootstrap the local installation by creating necessary directories and symlinking the binary.

Usage

squirrel self install

Options

Option	Description
`--bin-dir`	Custom bin directory for symlink (default: ~/.local/bin)

Output

Installed v0.1.0
  Binary: ~/.local/share/squirrel/releases/0.1.0/squirrel
  Symlink: ~/.local/bin/squirrel

If ~/.local/bin is not in your $PATH, the command will show:

Add to your shell profile:
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"

What it does

Creates ~/.squirrel/ for settings
Creates ~/.local/share/squirrel/releases/ for cached releases
Creates symlink at ~/.local/bin/squirrel
Registers installation for update checks

update

Check for and apply updates to the CLI.

Automatic updates

You usually don’t need this command. With auto_update enabled (the default), squirrel updates itself: any CLI run checks for a new release in the background, and when one is found a detached background process downloads it, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and switches over silently. Your next run prints a one-line notice:

✓ squirrel auto-updated v0.0.42 → v0.0.43

The running process is never interrupted - the new version takes effect on the next run. Turn this off with:

squirrel self settings set auto_update false

With auto-update off you still get an update notification box (unless notifications is also off), and squirrel self update applies updates manually.

Automatic updates only run for managed installs (installed via the install script, npm, or self install). If you copied the binary somewhere yourself, squirrel tells you how to update instead of touching your setup.

Check frequency

The background check runs on CLI invocations but is throttled so it hits the network at most once per interval, no matter how often you run squirrel, so it never adds latency on every start. The default is once per hour; tune it (in hours, fractional allowed, minimum 0.05 ≈ 3 min) to pick up hotfixes faster:

squirrel self settings set update_check_interval_hours 0.25   # every 15 min

CI and locked-down environments

squirrel makes no outbound update requests when it detects CI (CI, GITHUB_ACTIONS, GITLAB_CI, CIRCLECI, BUILDKITE, JENKINS_URL, TEAMCITY_VERSION, TF_BUILD): neither the check nor the silent install runs, so pipelines stay deterministic. To opt out anywhere else (air-gapped or restricted networks), set:

export SQUIRREL_NO_UPDATE=1

Any value other than empty, 0, or false (case-insensitive, surrounding whitespace ignored) enables the opt-out, so an empty or whitespace-only SQUIRREL_NO_UPDATE= does not suppress updates.

Both CI detection and SQUIRREL_NO_UPDATE only suppress the automatic paths; an explicit squirrel self update still works. (For a fully offline single run, use the --offline flag instead.)

Usage

squirrel self update [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--check`	Only check for updates, don’t install
`--dismiss`	Dismiss update notification for current version
`--force`	Update even if this binary isn’t a managed install

Examples

Check for updates

squirrel self update --check

Output if update available:

Update available: v0.2.0
Run 'squirrel self update' to install

Output if up to date:

Already on latest version (0.1.0)

Install update

squirrel self update

Output:

Updated to v0.2.0
See release notes: https://github.com/squirrelscan/squirrelscan/releases/tag/v0.2.0

Dismiss update notification

squirrel self update --dismiss

This dismisses the update notification until the next version is released. A dismissed version is also skipped by automatic updates.

Update channels

squirrel has two update channels configured via settings:

stable - Production releases (recommended)
beta - Pre-release versions with latest features

Change channel:

squirrel self settings set channel beta

completion

Generate shell completion scripts for bash, zsh, or fish.

Usage

squirrel self completion <shell>

Arguments

Argument	Description
`shell`	Shell type: `bash`, `zsh`, or `fish` (required)

Examples

Bash

Add to ~/.bashrc:

eval "$(squirrel self completion bash)"

Zsh

Add to ~/.zshrc:

eval "$(squirrel self completion zsh)"

Fish

Add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

squirrel self completion fish | source

What it provides

Completions include:

Command names
Subcommand names
Option flags
File paths for relevant arguments

doctor

Run health checks on your installation.

Usage

squirrel self doctor

Output

Running health checks...

[OK] Binary: Executable found at ~/.local/bin/squirrel
[OK] Version: 0.1.0
[OK] Permissions: Binary is executable
[OK] Config: Valid squirrel.toml found
[WARN] Cache: 125MB of cached data at ~/.local/share/squirrel
[OK] Settings: Valid settings at ~/.squirrel/settings.json

Passed: 5 | Warnings: 1 | Failed: 0

What it checks

Binary installation and permissions
Config file validity
Settings file validity
Cache size and location
Update status

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	All checks passed (warnings are OK)
`1`	One or more checks failed

disk

Reports what the squirrel data directory is costing, per project and in total.

squirrel self disk

Projects
     406 MB  sweetdeals-com-au  (7 audits)
     194 MB  acme-docs  (13 audits)
    86.8 MB  www-example-com  (2 audits)
  ... and 65 more

Totals
     2.7 GB  projects
     948 MB  content store (shared)
    12.4 MB  link cache (shared)
     203 MB  releases
     4.0 MB  logs
     3.8 GB  total

Projects are listed largest first. The count in brackets is how many audits that project has recorded.

The last 3 audits are kept. A successful audit retires anything older, so a project settles at roughly the size of its window instead of growing by one audit every run. On a 1,000-page site an audit is about 95 MB, and most of it is the per-check results: around 204 rows per page, which with their indexes are about 70% of the file. Change the window, or turn retention off, with [storage] keep_audits.

Retiring frees that space inside the file for the next audit to reuse rather than returning it to the filesystem, which is what --prune below is for.

The content store and the external-link cache are shared by every project rather than owned by one, so they are reported separately. A shared database that has been pointed inside a project directory is counted once, against that directory.

Options

Flag	Description
`--json`	Emit the usage as JSON, for scripting
`--limit <n>`	Show at most this many projects (default 15)

Reporting opens each project database read-only, and the command is excluded from the usual startup maintenance, so running it will not rotate the logs it is about to measure.

Reclaiming space

--prune retires the audits beyond the newest --keep, then rebuilds the database so the space returns to the filesystem.

squirrel self disk --prune --keep 3 --dry-run
squirrel self disk --prune --keep 3

--keep is required and has no default, and it is independent of [storage] keep_audits: this command reclaims to the window you name here, on the projects it finds, and rebuilds each file. Use it to hand space back to the filesystem, to prune below the automatic window, or to clear a backlog on a project you have not audited since retention arrived.

A retired audit’s report can no longer be rendered, and report --list, report --diff and report --regression-since all reach back into that history, so how many audits to keep is your call rather than a number this command picks for you.

A project whose old audits an audit already retired has nothing left to retire and is still holding the space those deletes freed, so the plan offers the rebuild on its own:

Keeping the newest 3 audit(s) per project.

acme-docs  412 MB  rebuilding to return 96.4 MB

Nothing left to retire: 96.4 MB across 1 project(s) is already free inside the
files and only a rebuild returns it.

Rebuild? [y/N]

The plan is printed and confirmed before anything is deleted:

Keeping the newest 1 audit(s) per project.

acme-docs  11.5 MB  retiring 1 of 2 audits
    2026-09-07  6a1b45df

12,635 rows across 1 project(s). Their reports stop being renderable; the audits stay listed.

Retire them? [y/N]

Flag	Description
`--prune`	Retire audits beyond `--keep` and reclaim the space
`--keep <n>`	How many recent audits per project stay renderable. Required
`--project <name>`	Limit the prune to one project directory
`--dry-run`	List what would go and stop
`--yes`	Skip the confirmation prompt

What retiring removes is a crawl’s rule results, sitemaps, page features and frontier, plus the page rows a newer audit already supersedes. What it keeps is everything the next audit reads: the newest page record per URL (so an incremental re-crawl still gets its ETag rather than refetching the site), the sub-resource records, the links and images (a reused page copies those forward from whichever crawl last saw them), and the crawls row itself, so the audit is still listed.

A retired audit is marked as such and says when its data went:

06148d76   8 Sep 2026, 10:49   1    retired     -
  https://example.com
  data reclaimed on 2026-09-08; this audit can no longer be opened

Opening it, diffing against it, or using it as a --regression-since baseline all refuse with the same sentence rather than rendering an empty report.

Measured on two audits of a 60-page site: 11.5 MB to 5.7 MB, and the next audit still reported every page unchanged rather than refetching it.

version

Show version information about the CLI.

Usage

squirrel self version [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

Examples

Human-readable

squirrel self version

Output:

squirrel v0.1.0
  Channel: stable
  Platform: darwin-arm64
  Bun: 1.1.38

JSON output

squirrel self version --json

Output:

{
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "channel": "stable",
  "platform": "darwin-arm64",
  "bun_version": "1.1.38"
}

settings

Manage CLI settings stored at ~/.squirrel/settings.json or .squirrel/settings.json (local project).

Subcommands

show - Display settings
set - Update a setting

settings show

Display current settings.

Usage

squirrel self settings show [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--user`	Show only user settings (~/.squirrel/settings.json)
`--local`	Show only local project settings (.squirrel/settings.json)

Examples

Effective settings (default)

Shows merged settings with source tracking:

squirrel self settings show

Output:

Effective Settings:

  channel                  = stable       (default)
  auto_update              = true         (user)
  notifications            = true         (local)
  log_level                = info         (default)  (read-only)

User:  ~/.squirrel/settings.json
Local: /path/to/project/.squirrel/settings.json

User settings only

squirrel self settings show --user

Output:

User Settings (~/.squirrel/settings.json):

  channel              = stable
  auto_update          = true
  user_feedback_email  = [email protected]

Local settings only

squirrel self settings show --local

Output:

Local Settings (/path/to/project/.squirrel/settings.json):

  notifications        = false

settings set

Update a setting value.

Usage

squirrel self settings set <key> <value> [options]

Arguments

Argument	Description
`key`	Setting key (required)
`value`	New value (required)

Options

Option	Description
`--local`	Set in local project settings (.squirrel/settings.json)
`--user`	Set in user settings (~/.squirrel/settings.json) (default)

Available settings

Key	Type	Description	Values
`channel`	string	Update channel	`stable`, `beta`
`auto_update`	boolean	Automatic background updates	`true`, `false`
`update_check_interval_hours`	number	How often the background update check may run (hours)	`>= 0.05` (default `1`)
`notifications`	boolean	Show update notifications	`true`, `false`
`telemetry`	boolean	Send minimal pseudonymous CLI telemetry	`true`, `false`
`tips`	boolean	Show a random tip under the audit preamble	`true`, `false`

Examples

Switch to beta channel

squirrel self settings set channel beta

Output:

Set channel = beta (user)
  Written to: ~/.squirrel/settings.json

Disable update notifications

squirrel self settings set notifications false

Set local project setting

squirrel self settings set notifications false --local

This creates .squirrel/settings.json in the current directory and sets the value there.

Telemetry

Telemetry is enabled by default. The CLI sends only the event name, CLI version, a random install ID, and a bounded error category. It does not send credentials, URLs, report contents, or raw error messages, and telemetry requests are never authenticated.

The CLI shows this disclosure once before its first telemetry-enabled command. Disable telemetry in user settings with:

squirrel self settings set telemetry false

For CI, containers, or one-off commands, define NO_TELEMETRY. Its presence is the kill switch: any defined value, including an empty value, 0, or false, disables telemetry, install registration, and install-ID creation.

NO_TELEMETRY=1 squirrel audit https://example.com

uninstall

Remove squirrel from your system.

Usage

squirrel self uninstall [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--purge`	Also remove user settings
`--force`	Skip confirmation prompt

Examples

Interactive uninstall

squirrel self uninstall

Output:

This will remove:
  - Symlink at ~/.local/bin/squirrel
  - Cached releases at ~/.local/share/squirrel

User settings at ~/.squirrel/settings.json will be preserved.
Use --purge to also remove settings.

Continue? [y/N]

Uninstall with settings

squirrel self uninstall --purge

This removes:

Binary symlink
Cached releases
User settings

Force uninstall (no prompt)

squirrel self uninstall --force

What gets removed

Item	Default	With —purge
Binary symlink (`~/.local/bin/squirrel`)	✓	✓
Cached releases (`~/.local/share/squirrel/`)	✓	✓
User settings (`~/.squirrel/`)	✗	✓
Project configs (`squirrel.toml`)	✗	✗
Audit database (`~/.local/share/squirrel/audits.db`)	✓	✓

Configuration - Project config file options
CLI Reference - All CLI commands

Edit this page

Subcommands

install

Usage

Options

Output

What it does

update

Automatic updates

Check frequency

CI and locked-down environments

Usage

Options

Examples

Check for updates

Install update

Dismiss update notification

Update channels

completion

Usage

Arguments

Examples

Bash

Zsh

Fish

What it provides

doctor

Usage

Output

What it checks

Exit codes

disk

Options

Reclaiming space

version

Usage

Options

Examples

Human-readable

JSON output

settings

Subcommands

settings show

Usage

Options

Examples

Effective settings (default)

User settings only

Local settings only

settings set

Usage

Arguments

Options

Available settings

Examples

Switch to beta channel

Disable update notifications

Set local project setting

Telemetry

uninstall

Usage

Options

Examples

Interactive uninstall

Uninstall with settings

Force uninstall (no prompt)

What gets removed

Related