Install

Build the handsoff tool from source, put it on your PATH, and check that it runs.

What it runs on

Handsoff supports macOS on Apple silicon and Linux on x86-64. The team has checked it on macOS.

The tool is one program. It needs no background service.

To build it you need two things:

• Rust 1.85 or later, with Cargo.
• A C compiler on your PATH.

Check Cargo like this:

$ cargo --version
cargo 1.97.1 (c980f4866 2026-06-30)

Your number can be higher. It must not be lower than 1.85.

Build it

Handsoff is built from source today. There is no package to install yet. Run this from the root of the Handsoff source folder:

$ cargo build --release -p handsoff
   Compiling proc-macro2 v1.0.107
   Compiling unicode-ident v1.0.26
…
   Compiling handsoff-core v0.1.0 (…/crates/handsoff-core)
   Compiling handsoff-auth v0.1.0 (…/crates/handsoff-auth)
   Compiling handsoff v0.1.0 (…/crates/handsoff)
    Finished `release` profile [optimized] target(s) in 22.57s

That build took 23 seconds on a recent Mac. Cargo fetches the tool's dependencies on the first build, so yours may take longer.

The tool is now at target/release/handsoff.

Put it on your PATH

Copy the tool to a folder that is on your PATH. This puts it in ~/.local/bin:

$ mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
$ cp target/release/handsoff ~/.local/bin/
$ export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

The export line lasts for this terminal only. To keep it, add the same line to your shell's startup file.

Check it

$ handsoff --version
handsoff 0.1.0

If your shell says it cannot find handsoff, the folder you copied it to is not on your PATH. Run the export line again.

Next, sign in so the tool can reach your team's Handsoff service.