Install MVL

Homebrew (macOS Apple Silicon)

Fastest path — installs a pre-built binary in seconds:

brew tap mvl-lang/mvl
brew trust mvl-lang/mvl    # Homebrew 6.x requires trusting third-party taps
brew install mvl

Verify:

mvl --version    # → mvl 1.0.0
mvl --help

The Homebrew formula installs the compiler binary, standard library, and Rust FFI runtime. MVL_HOME is configured automatically by a wrapper in bin/mvl. See mvl-lang/homebrew-mvl for what the tap ships and how to update it.

About brew trust

Homebrew 6.0 introduced a trust step for third-party taps to protect users from unreviewed formulae. This is a one-time step per tap. If you skip it, brew install will refuse to load the formula with a message telling you what to run.

Platforms currently supported by the tap:

Platform	Status
macOS on Apple Silicon (arm64)	✅ Prebuilt binary
macOS on Intel (x86_64)	⏳ Coming — use the install script below
Linux / Windows / other	⏳ Coming — use the install script below

Universal install script (build from source)

Works on any platform with Rust:

curl -fsSL https://mvl-lang.org/install.sh | sh

This:

1. Verifies system prerequisites (see below)
2. Installs Rust if not present (via rustup)
3. Clones and builds MVL from source
4. Installs the mvl binary to ~/.local/bin/
5. Adds ~/.local/bin to your PATH

No sudo required for MVL itself.

Check before installing

To verify what's already on your system without installing anything, run with --check:

curl -fsSL https://mvl-lang.org/install.sh | sh -s -- --check

Sample output:

Prerequisites:
  ✓ git found: /usr/bin/git
  ✗ Z3 solver NOT found
      brew install z3
  ✓ Rust toolchain found: rustc 1.83.0

Exit code is non-zero if anything is missing, so it composes with CI/scripting. Nothing is written to disk in check mode.

Read the script before running

If you want to inspect the source before executing it:

curl -fsSL https://mvl-lang.org/install.sh -o /tmp/mvl-install.sh
less /tmp/mvl-install.sh    # ~260 lines of POSIX sh
sh /tmp/mvl-install.sh      # run when satisfied

Security note — pick your install path deliberately

The install script is a convenience path. It's protected by HTTPS transport and the trust chain of git/cargo once cloning starts, but there's no cryptographic signature on the script itself. If mvl-lang.org is compromised, curl | sh is compromised.

For deployments where install-time integrity matters, use the Homebrew tap instead: every artifact SHA is pinned in the formula, changes go through PR review, and Homebrew verifies checksums before installing. That's the real-integrity path.

Sigstore / cosign-signed release artifacts are a planned future improvement for the compiler releases themselves.

System prerequisites

The script checks for these and stops with a clear install command if missing:

• git — for cloning the source
• Z3 — required by MVL's refinement solver (transitively via z3-sys); the script does not attempt to install it because system-package installation requires sudo

Install Z3 up front:

Platform	Command
macOS (Homebrew)	brew install z3
Debian / Ubuntu	sudo apt-get install -y libz3-dev z3
Fedora / RHEL	sudo dnf install -y z3 z3-devel
Arch	sudo pacman -S z3
Alpine	sudo apk add z3 z3-dev

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
MVL_INSTALL_DIR	~/.local/bin	Where to install the binary
MVL_VERSION	latest	Version/tag to build (e.g., v1.0.0)
MVL_BUILD_DIR	~/.mvl/src	Where to clone source
MVL_NO_MODIFY_PATH	0	Set to 1 to skip PATH modification

Example: install a specific version to a custom location:

MVL_VERSION=v1.0.0 MVL_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/mvl/bin \
  curl -fsSL https://mvl-lang.org/install.sh | sh

Manual Build

Requires Rust (stable toolchain) and git:

git clone https://github.com/mvl-lang/mvl.git
cd mvl
cargo build --release
cp target/release/mvl ~/.local/bin/

Verify Installation

mvl --version
# mvl 1.0.0

Editor Support

MVL provides an LSP server for editor integration:

mvl lsp  # starts the language server

Configure your editor to use mvl lsp as the language server for .mvl files.