System requirements

Before installing Zowe CLI, ensure that your environment meets the prerequisites that are described in this article.

Client-side requirements

Zowe CLI is supported on Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems. Meet the following requirements before you install the CLI:

• Node.js: Install a currently supported version of Node.js LTS. For a complete list of supported LTS versions, see Nodejs Releases.

  Note: You might need to restart the command prompt after installing Node.js. Issue the following command to verify that Node.js is installed.

  node --version

  Important! If you are installing Zowe CLI with Node.js 16 on a Windows operating system, see Installing Zowe CLI with Node.js 16 on Windows.

• npm: Install a version of Node Package Manager (npm) that is compatible with your version of Node.js.

  npm is included with most Node.js installations. Issue the following command to determine your currently installed version of npm.

  npm --version

  See Node.js release matrix to verify that the versions are compatible.

  Important! If you are running npm version 8.11.0 or 8.12.0 and you are installing Zowe CLI on a computer that cannot access the Internet or has restricted Internet access, your Zowe CLI installation appears to complete successfully. However, when you issue Zowe commands that access the secure credential store, the commands return error messages. To circumvent this problem, install npm 8.12.1 or later on your computer. If you cannot upgrade to 8.12.1 or later, see Zowe Commands Fail with Secure Credential Errors in Known Zowe CLI issues.

• Secure Credential Store: On Linux systems, you must install the packages gnome-keyring and libsecret (or libsecret-1-0 on Debian and Ubuntu).

  Note: For information about how to configure Secure Credential Store on headless Linux and z/Linux, see Configure Secure Credential Store on headless Linux operating systems.

• Plug-in client requirements: If you plan to install plug-ins, review the Software requirements for CLI plug-ins.

  Important! Ensure that you meet the client-side requirements for the IBM Db2 plug-in before you install it.

Host-side requirements

Zowe CLI requires the following mainframe configuration:

• IBM z/OSMF configured and running: You do not need to install the full Zowe solution to install and use Zowe CLI. Minimally, an instance of IBM z/OSMF must be running on the mainframe before you can issue Zowe CLI commands successfully. z/OSMF enables the core capabilities, such as retrieving data sets, executing TSO commands, submitting jobs, and more. If Zowe API Mediation Layer (API ML) is configured and running, Zowe CLI users can choose to connect to API ML rather than to every separate service.

• Plug-in services configured and running: Plug-ins communicate with various mainframe services. The services must be configured and running on the mainframe before issuing plug-in commands. For example, the IMS plug-in requires an instance of IBM IMS on the mainframe with IMS Connect (REST services) running. For more information, see Software requirements for CLI plug-ins

• Zowe CLI on z/OS is not supported: Zowe CLI can be installed on an IBM z/OS environment and run under Unix System Services (USS). However, the IBM Db2 plug-in cannot run on z/OS due to native code requirements. As such, Zowe CLI is not supported on z/OS and is currently experimental.

Free disk space

Zowe CLI requires approximately 100 MB of free disk space. The actual quantity of free disk space consumed might vary depending on your operating system, the plug-ins that you install, and the user profiles that are saved to disk.