Installation

AeorDB is built from source using the Rust toolchain. There are no external dependencies – the binary is fully self-contained.

Prerequisites

• Rust (stable toolchain, 1.75+)

Install Rust if you don’t have it:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Build from Source

Clone the repository and install the release binary locally:

git clone https://github.com/AeorDB/aeordb.git
cd aeordb
./scripts/install-local.sh

The binary is installed at:

~/.local/bin/aeordb

Verify the Build

aeordb --help

You should see:

AeorDB command-line interface

Usage: aeordb <COMMAND>

Commands:
  start            Start the database server
  stress           Run stress tests against a running instance
  emergency-reset  Emergency reset: revoke the current root API key and generate a new one
  export           Export a version as a self-contained .aeordb file
  diff             Create a patch .aeordb containing only the changeset between two versions
  import           Import an export or patch .aeordb file into a target database
  promote          Promote a version hash to HEAD
  gc               Run garbage collection to reclaim unreachable entries
  help             Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Optional: Install an Existing Binary

If you already have a built release binary, install it without rebuilding:

./scripts/install-local.sh --from /path/to/aeordb

Optional: Add to PATH

The install script uses ~/.local/bin, which is usually already on PATH. If your shell cannot find aeordb after installation:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

No External Dependencies

AeorDB does not require:

• A separate database process (it IS the process)
• Runtime libraries or shared objects
• Configuration files (sensible defaults for everything)
• Docker, containers, or orchestration

The single binary is all you need. Point it at a file path and it creates the database on first run.

Next Steps

• Quick Start – start the server and store your first file