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ctx version

ctx version prints the identity that was stamped into this binary at build time: the release version, the short git commit it was built from, and the build date.

When you’d reach for it

Section titled “When you’d reach for it”

Two situations. You’re filing a bug or comparing notes with a teammate and need the exact build, in which case you want the full line with the commit. Or you’re scripting — a setup script that enforces a floor version, a CI job that records the toolchain — in which case --short gives you the bare number and nothing to parse around.

It is also the fastest way to tell whether self-update will work at all: a binary that reports dev was built with go build/go install, has no release stamp, and ctx update will refuse to touch it.

Synopsis

Section titled “Synopsis”
Terminal window
ctx version
ctx version --short
ctx --version      # root flag; version number only

Flags

Section titled “Flags”
FlagTypeDefaultDescription
--shortboolfalseprint just the version number
FlagTypeDefaultDescription
--rootstringproject root directory (default: current directory)

--root is inherited from the root command and has no effect here: ctx version reads no project files.

Examples

Section titled “Examples”

The full identity line — what to paste into a bug report:

Terminal window
ctx version
ctx version
ctx 0.5.1 (9f31c07, 2026-07-28)

Just the number, for scripts:

Terminal window
ctx version --short
ctx version --short
0.5.1

How it works

Section titled “How it works”

The three values come from package-level variables overridden at release build time with -ldflags -X …/internal/version.Version=…, .Commit=… and .Date=…. Nothing is read from disk, no config is loaded, and no network request is made — which is why this command works outside a Contexo project.

An un-stamped build falls back to the defaults dev, none and unknown, in that order, and IsDevBuild() — the predicate ctx update and the background update nudge both consult — is exactly the test Version == "dev".

ctx --version (or -v) is a different code path: it’s cobra’s built-in version flag on the root command, rendering ctx version <number> from the same Version variable, without the commit or date. Use the subcommand when you care about provenance.

See also

Section titled “See also”