Installation

NetsCLI publishes command-line binaries and desktop installers through GitHub Releases. The CLI/TUI binary is named netscli. The desktop app is distributed as NetsCLI Desktop.

Recommended installs

Platform	Recommended path	Installs
Windows	winget install fstubner.netscli	CLI and TUI
Windows	winget install fstubner.netscli.gui	Desktop app
macOS	Homebrew or install script	CLI and TUI
Linux	Install script, Homebrew, AUR, or release artifact	CLI and TUI
Rust users	cargo install netscli	CLI and TUI from crates.io

Windows

Use winget for the hash-verified install path:

winget install fstubner.netscli

The desktop app is distributed separately:

winget install fstubner.netscli.gui

Scoop is also supported, for both the CLI and the desktop app:

scoop bucket add fstubner https://github.com/fstubner/scoop-bucket
scoop install netscli
scoop install netscli-gui

Or the PowerShell install script, which picks the right asset for your machine:

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fstubner/netscli/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Direct Windows installers are attached to GitHub Releases. They are not Authenticode-signed yet, so Windows may show a publisher warning when installing outside winget. The winget manifests verify release asset hashes.

macOS

Use Homebrew when available:

brew tap fstubner/tap && brew install netscli

Or use the install script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fstubner/netscli/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Desktop .dmg artifacts are attached to GitHub Releases where the release workflow publishes them. macOS may require the usual first-run approval for unsigned or independently distributed apps.

Linux

Use the install script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fstubner/netscli/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Install with Homebrew on Linux when you use Linuxbrew:

brew tap fstubner/tap && brew install netscli

On Arch-based systems with an AUR helper:

yay -S netscli-bin

Release artifacts may include Linux CLI binaries and desktop packages such as .deb or .AppImage, depending on the release.

Cargo

If Rust is installed:

cargo install netscli

Cargo installs the CLI/TUI binary. It does not install the desktop app.

Updating

Use the same package manager you installed with.

Update the CLI and TUI on Windows:

winget upgrade fstubner.netscli

Update the desktop app on Windows:

winget upgrade fstubner.netscli.gui

Update a Homebrew install:

brew upgrade netscli

For direct release artifacts, download the latest GitHub release and replace the previous install with the matching package for your platform.

Packet capture

No install on this page includes packet capture. It is a compile-time feature, and every published build — the desktop installers, the standard CLI release assets, and cargo install netscli — is built without it. That keeps the default install free of any libpcap/Npcap dependency and avoids redistributing Npcap.

Normal scan, discovery, DNS, ARP, ping, trace, and interface workflows are unaffected and need none of this.

If you do want packet capture, you need both a build that has the feature compiled in and the system capture library.

CLI with packet capture

The install script does both at once — it selects the -pcap build and installs the system library:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fstubner/netscli/main/scripts/install.sh | NETSCLI_PCAP=1 bash

$env:NETSCLI_PCAP=1; iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fstubner/netscli/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

On Windows this runs the Npcap installer, which needs administrator rights. Add NETSCLI_SKIP_NPCAP=1 (or NETSCLI_SKIP_LIBPCAP=1 on Unix) if you manage the capture library yourself.

Alternatively, download the -pcap asset directly from the latest release — netscli-linux-x86_64-pcap, netscli-macos-aarch64-pcap, netscli-windows-x86_64-pcap.exe, and so on — and install the capture library separately. There is no -pcap musl build.

Or build it yourself, which needs the development headers (libpcap-dev on Debian/Ubuntu, or the Npcap SDK on Windows):

cargo install netscli --features pcap

Desktop app with packet capture

There is no published desktop installer with packet capture. The Packet Capture tool appears in the app but shows setup guidance instead of running. To get a capture-capable desktop build you have to build from source:

cd apps/netscli-gui
npm install
npm run tauri build -- --features pcap

System requirements

Platform	Requirement
Windows	Npcap installed. wpcap.dll lives in C:\Windows\System32\Npcap\, which is not on PATH by default — add it, or let NETSCLI_PCAP=1 do it.
Linux	libpcap installed, plus capture permissions (CAP_NET_RAW or root).
macOS	libpcap available, plus capture permissions where required.

Checking what you have

netscli doctor works on every build and reports whether packet capture is compiled in and whether the runtime library is present:

netscli doctor

Note that netscli pcap --check only exists on builds that were compiled with the feature — on a standard build the subcommand is absent entirely and you will get an “unrecognized subcommand” error rather than a useful message. Use doctor to find out which build you have.