Installation

ShipQ is a Go CLI tool that you build from source. There is no published binary — you clone the repository and compile it yourself.

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+ — ShipQ requires a recent Go toolchain. Install it from go.dev.
• A local database (optional at install time) — ShipQ supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite. If none are available, ShipQ defaults to SQLite (stored under .shipq/data/).

Optional (for specific subsystems)

• Redis — required for the workers/channels system (shipq workers)
• Centrifugo — required for WebSocket realtime (shipq workers)
• MinIO (or any S3-compatible store) — required for file uploads (shipq files)
• Nix — ShipQ ships a shell.nix for reproducible dev environments

Build from Source

Clone the repository and build the shipq binary:

git clone https://github.com/shipq/shipq.git
cd shipq
go build -o shipq ./cmd/shipq

This produces a shipq binary in the current directory. You can move it to a location on your $PATH:

mv shipq /usr/local/bin/shipq

Verify the installation:

shipq --help

You should see the full command listing:

shipq - A database migration and code generation tool

Usage:
  shipq <command> [arguments]

Commands:
  init              Initialize a new shipq project
  auth              Generate authentication system
  signup            Generate signup handler
  db setup          Set up the database
  db compile        Generate type-safe query runner code
  migrate new       Create a new migration
  migrate up        Run all pending migrations
  resource          Generate CRUD handler(s) for a table
  handler compile   Compile handler registry and run codegen
  ...

Using Nix

If you use Nix, ShipQ can generate a shell.nix for your project:

shipq nix

This creates a shell.nix pinned to the latest stable nixpkgs, giving you a reproducible development environment with all required tooling.

Next Steps

Once you have the shipq binary, head to the Quickstart to create your first project.