Install woodpecker-cli with Homebrew, apk, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• woodpecker-cli

Project history

The public GitHub repository for Woodpecker was created on 2019-04-03. Its README describes Woodpecker as a simple but powerful CI/CD engine with great extensibility, and the current documentation describes it as lightweight, simple to use, and fast. That positioning reflects its origins as a smaller self-hosted CI system rather than a hosted SaaS CI product.

Woodpecker inherited important ideas from Drone: pipeline definitions are container-oriented, steps run in containers, and self-hosted Git forges are central to the expected deployment model. Over time the project developed its own identity, documentation, plugin catalog, Matrix community, Open Collective sponsorship, and release stream.

The CLI follows that split between server administration and local developer feedback. The current CLI manual documents global options for server and token configuration, commands for repositories, builds, registries, secrets, users, and contexts, and an `exec` command for executing a local pipeline with metadata and backend options.

Adoption history

Woodpecker's adoption is strongest in the self-hosted and open-source forge ecosystem. The official README says Codeberg uses Woodpecker as its main CI/CD engine, which is a notable adoption signal because Codeberg is a public Git hosting platform focused on privacy and free software development.

The GitHub repository also shows substantial community traction for a self-hosted CI project, with thousands of stars and hundreds of forks. Its plugin overview and current documentation indicate a broader ecosystem of core-team and community-maintained plugins.

How it is used

Developers typically use `woodpecker-cli` to authenticate against a Woodpecker server, inspect repositories and builds, manage secrets and registries, or switch named contexts. CI administrators use it as a scriptable surface for operations that would otherwise happen in the web UI.

A particularly package-relevant use is `woodpecker-cli exec`, which runs a pipeline locally. The current introductory docs explicitly recommend local workflow execution when a user wants to try a pipeline before installing or using a server, making the CLI useful even outside a full Woodpecker deployment.

Why package nerds care

Woodpecker CLI matters to package users because it is the portable local handle for a self-hosted CI stack. Installing it through a package manager gives developers a stable tool for linting, dry-running, and administering CI without checking a binary into every repository.

The Drone lineage is also important to packagers: Woodpecker preserves an Apache-licensed path for users who liked Drone's container pipeline model but wanted a fully open project with community governance.

Timeline

• 2019-04-03: The woodpecker-ci/woodpecker GitHub repository is created.
• Drone 0.8 era: Woodpecker is forked from the last Apache-licensed Drone release, according to the official Woodpecker about documentation.
• 2020s: Woodpecker develops a current 3.x documentation set, plugin site, public CI instance, and CLI with local `exec` support.
• 2026-07-02: GitHub API data showed active repository pushes, reflecting ongoing maintenance at the time of this enrichment run.

Related projects

• Drone CI is the direct upstream lineage through Drone 0.8.
• Codeberg is a notable public Woodpecker deployment named in the official README.
• Gitea, Forgejo, GitHub, and GitLab are common forge-side companions in Woodpecker deployments.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/main/README.md
• https://woodpecker-ci.org/docs/2.8/about
• https://woodpecker-ci.org/docs/cli
• https://woodpecker-ci.org/docs/intro