Install Nexlem

Nexlem ships as @nexlem/framework on npm and is installed globally via your package manager. Bun is the recommended runtime; npm, pnpm, and yarn classic are also supported. This document is the single source of truth for install, update, and uninstall commands across every supported package manager.

Prerequisites

Bun 1.x — runtime, package manager, and built-in SQLite driver; install from bun.sh: curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash
Claude Code — the agent runtime; install via npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code or follow docs.claude.ai
A Claude Max subscription — text generation runs through Claude Code subagents; no Anthropic API key is required and no per-token billing applies

Platform Support

Platform	Status
macOS	Supported
Linux	Supported
WSL2 (Windows)	Supported — the canonical Windows path
Native Windows	Not supported — use WSL2

Bun has limited native Windows support, so Nexlem standardises on WSL2 for Windows users. Run all install commands from inside your WSL2 shell.

Bun (recommended)

Bun is Nexlem's recommended runtime — it ships SQLite, executes TypeScript natively, and matches the framework's internal toolchain. If you have no preference, use Bun.

Install:

bun add -g @nexlem/framework

Update:

bun update -g @nexlem/framework

Uninstall:

bun remove -g @nexlem/framework

npm

npm is the most common package manager and works on every supported platform. Use it if your environment already standardises on Node.js tooling.

Install:

npm install -g @nexlem/framework

Update:

npm install -g @nexlem/framework@latest

Uninstall:

npm uninstall -g @nexlem/framework

pnpm

pnpm offers a content-addressable global store and reproducible installs. Use it if your team already standardises on pnpm.

Install:

pnpm add -g @nexlem/framework

Update:

pnpm update -g @nexlem/framework

Uninstall:

pnpm remove -g @nexlem/framework

yarn classic

Yarn classic (v1.x) is supported for teams that have not migrated to yarn berry. Use the yarn global family of commands.

Install:

yarn global add @nexlem/framework

Update:

yarn global upgrade @nexlem/framework --latest

Uninstall:

yarn global remove @nexlem/framework

Yarn berry — unsupported

Yarn berry (v2+) deprecated global installs and is not supported. Use yarn classic (commands above) or bun (recommended). If you're on yarn berry today, install bun (curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash) and use the bun commands.

See forward-only.md for the broader removed-features policy.

Verify

After install, run nexlem-sdk info from any terminal. You should see the framework version, install path, env-var status, and a .nexlem/ health summary. If nexlem-sdk is not found in your PATH, your package manager's global bin directory may not be on PATH — see the troubleshooting notes for your PM at bun.sh, docs.npmjs.com, pnpm.io, or classic.yarnpkg.com.

Run nexlem-sdk info from any directory to confirm the framework is on PATH. Run it again from inside a /nexlem init-initialized project to verify the project's .nexlem/ layout.

Continue with Getting Started.

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