Install the Postman CLI

Install the Postman CLI by following the instructions for your operating system below.

The Postman CLI supports the same system requirements as the Postman desktop app. For a complete list of requirements, see Install and update Postman.

macOS, Linux, and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) installation

Run the following command to install the Postman CLI on systems running macOS, Linux, or Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This will download and run a unified install script that detects your OS and architecture. The install script creates a /usr/local/bin directory if it doesn’t exist yet, then installs the postman binary there.

Alternatively, you can use npm to install the Postman CLI binary on systems running macOS, Linux, or Windows. You can also install Postman CLI with scripts specific to Windows, macOS (Apple silicon), macOS (Intel), or Linux.

Linux support excludes Alpine Linux distributions due to libc compatibility requirements.

curl -o- "https://dl-cli.pstmn.io/install/unix.sh" | sh

npm installation for Windows, macOS, and Linux

If you have Node.js and npm installed on your system, you can run the following command. This will download and install the Postman CLI binary, making the postman command available in your terminal.

npm install -g postman-cli

Windows installation

Run the following command to install the Postman CLI for Windows. This will download and run an install script. The script creates a %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps directory if it doesn’t exist yet, then installs the postman binary there.

powershell.exe -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy AllSigned -Command "[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://dl-cli.pstmn.io/install/win64.ps1'))"

macOS (Apple silicon) installation

Run the following command to install the Postman CLI for Macs with an Apple silicon processor. This will download an install script and run it. The install script creates a /usr/local/bin directory if it doesn’t exist yet, then installs the postman binary there.

curl -o- "https://dl-cli.pstmn.io/install/osx_arm64.sh" | sh

macOS (Intel) installation

Run the following command to install the Postman CLI for Macs with an Intel processor. This will download an install script and run it. The install script creates a /usr/local/bin directory if it doesn’t exist yet, then installs the postman binary there.

curl -o- "https://dl-cli.pstmn.io/install/osx_64.sh" | sh

Linux installation

Run the following command to install the Postman CLI for the latest Linux version. This will download an install script and run it. The install script creates a /usr/local/bin directory if it doesn’t exist yet, then installs the postman binary there.

curl -o- "https://dl-cli.pstmn.io/install/linux64.sh" | sh

Update your Postman CLI installation

To update your Postman CLI installation to the latest version, run the same command you used to install it. The new version will overwrite the earlier version. For details about the latest changes and features, see the Postman CLI release notes.

Uninstall Postman CLI

If you installed the Postman CLI with any method other than npm, you can uninstall it by deleting the postman binary. For macOS, Linux, and WLS systems, the binary is in /usr/local/bin by default. For Windows systems, the binary is in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps by default.

If you installed the Postman CLI with npm, you can uninstall it with the following command:

npm uninstall -g postman-cli

Troubleshooting

If you’ve installed the Postman CLI using both npm and the curl-based script, your system may have two copies of the binary. Which binary is active depends on the order of directories in your PATH environment variable.

To check which binary is active, do the following:

Run one of the following commands, depending on your system:
- For macOS, Linux, or WSL, run which postman.
- For Windows, run where postman.
Run postman --version.