rsdk is an alternative client to the excellent SDKMAN JVM tool manager.
It still relies on SDKMAN servers, indexes and downloads.
rsdk natively integrates with bash, zsh, powershell, and fish shells, on Windows, Linux and Mac, no external plugins required.
rsdk provides a TUI in a addition to the classic command-line interface.
rsdk is a self-contained binary executable, it works the same everywhere and does not require additional packages to be installed.
rsdk does not try to replicate all of SDKMAN:
- no offline mode
- some commands are different
- tools are installed in the
~/.rsdk/toolsfolder
The installer scripts are attached to each GitHub Release. The URLs below fetch the latest published release.
curl -fsSL https://github.com/fralalonde/rsdk/releases/latest/download/install.sh | shFollow additional script instructions for desired shell integrations.
irm https://github.com/fralalonde/rsdk/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iexThis downloads the prebuilt rsdk.exe to $HOME\.rsdk\ and installs the
PowerShell module.
- Re-running the installer reuses an already-installed binary (only updates the shell adapters). If you use multiple shells, the script wires up all of them it detects in one pass.
- If you just want the binary on PATH without shell aliases, clone the repo and build it yourself — see BUILD.md.
Like SDKMAN, rsdk tracks the active version of each tool with a current
symlink at ~/.rsdk/tools/<tool>/current pointing at the selected version, and
the default version with a default symlink.
rsdk init adds each default tool's stable …/<tool>/current/bin directory to
PATH (once) and sets the tool's *_HOME variable. Because PATH points at the
current symlink, rsdk use, rsdk env, and rsdk env clear only need to flip
that symlink and update *_HOME — PATH is never rewritten after init.
This means the active version survives across shells and new terminal sessions (the symlink is on disk, not in one shell's environment).
rsdk deals in tools and versions.
| Shell | Command Format | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| List available tools | rsdk list |
|
| List available tool versions | rsdk list <tool> |
rsdk list java |
| Install default version | rsdk install <tool> |
rsdk install maven |
| Install specific version | rsdk install <tool> <version> |
rsdk install maven 3.9.9 |
| Remove version | rsdk uninstall <tool> <version> |
rsdk uninstall maven 3.9.9 |
| Set default version | rsdk default <tool> <version> |
rsdk default maven 3.9.9 |
| Set active version | rsdk use <tool> <version> |
rsdk use maven 3.9.9 |
| Flush downloads cache | rsdk flush |
|
Save env to .sdkmanrc |
rsdk env init |
|
Apply .sdkmanrc env |
rsdk env |
|
Install .sdkmanrc tools |
rsdk env install |
|
| Revert env to defaults | rsdk env clear |
|
| Show help | rsdk --help |
Running rsdk use <tool> <version> for a version that isn't installed will
offer to install it first (like SDKMAN), then make it current.
Running with --debug enables verbose output and stack traces (equivalent of RUST_BACKTRACE=1 and RUST_LOG=debug).
rsdk tui launches an interactive tool browser for
discovering, installing, and managing JVM tools without having to type commands.
Layout: two panes. Left lists tools (installed ones starred and ranked first). Right shows the selected tool's description + installed versions, or — after drilling in — the list of available versions.
Navigation:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
↑ ↓ / k j |
move selection |
Enter / → |
drill in (tool → versions / open actions) |
Esc / ← |
go back (Esc at top level quits) |
Tab |
switch active pane |
PgUp / PgDn |
jump by 10 rows |
| type any text | filter the active pane |
Enter on a version |
pick an action: Install, Use, Set default, Remove |
Action modal: selecting a version pops a compact modal. Installed versions offer Use / Set as default / Remove; uninstalled versions offer Install only. Installing shows a live progress bar with a cancel option. After a successful install, if other versions are already present, you're asked whether to make the new one the default.
Visual cues: installed tools/versions are starred (*) and sorted first;
versions are ranked default → current → others (latest first), then uninstalled
(latest first). The current version is highlighted yellow, the default magenta.
If proxying is required, rsdk honors the http_proxy and https_proxy environment variables (same as curl).
If required, --insecure disables certificate validation allowing use of self-signed certificates.
rsdk is beta quality and may spuriously eat your dog even if you didn't have one.
See issues for a list of planned features.