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Install

litmus-lite is one static binary for Linux, macOS and Windows, on amd64 and arm64. It needs no runtime, daemon or account.

Download a release

Download the archive for your system from the releases page, check it against checksums.txt, and put litmus-lite on your PATH.

tar -xzf litmus-lite_*_darwin_arm64.tar.gz      # darwin_amd64 on Intel
shasum -a 256 -c --ignore-missing checksums.txt
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine litmus-lite        # the binary is not notarized
sudo mv litmus-lite /usr/local/bin/
litmus-lite version

A binary downloaded with a browser is quarantined by Gatekeeper; xattr clears that.

tar -xzf litmus-lite_*_linux_amd64.tar.gz        # linux_arm64 on ARM
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing checksums.txt
sudo mv litmus-lite /usr/local/bin/
litmus-lite version

Expand-Archive litmus-lite_*_windows_amd64.zip -DestinationPath .
(Get-FileHash litmus-lite.exe -Algorithm SHA256).Hash   # compare with checksums.txt
.\litmus-lite.exe version

Move litmus-lite.exe to a folder on your PATH. The process faults need Unix signals, and command probes (type: cmd) run through sh -c, so on Windows use HTTP probes and the other faults, or run under WSL.

The binaries are not signed

Releases are built in GitHub Actions from a tag, and checksums.txt is published with them. They are not code-signed or notarized.

Build from source

You need Go 1.22 or newer.

go install github.com/litmuschaos/litmus-lite/cmd/litmus-lite@latest

or, from a clone:

git clone https://github.com/litmuschaos/litmus-lite && cd litmus-lite
go build -o litmus-lite ./cmd/litmus-lite

A binary built this way reports a development version from litmus-lite version; release binaries report the release.

Connect your editor (optional)

To use litmus-lite from an agent, run this once in each project:

cd path/to/your/project
litmus-lite init

init adds a litmus-lite MCP server (litmus-lite mcp serve) to .cursor/mcp.json and writes a rule, .cursor/rules/litmus-lite.mdc, that tells the agent the conventions. It also writes .mcp.json for Claude Code. It records the absolute path of the binary that ran it, so re-run init after you move or upgrade the binary.

Then, in Cursor: Settings > Tools & MCP, check that litmus-lite is on. If it is not listed, toggle it or reload the window.

Nothing to set up. Check your environment with:

litmus-lite doctor

It checks the binary, your PATH, the optional load generator and the editor setup. Warnings about optional pieces are fine: a chaos-only run needs none of them.

Other MCP clients work too: point them at litmus-lite mcp serve over stdio. litmus-lite init -editor claude-code sets up Claude Code.

Next

Quick start: one green run and one red run, in five minutes.