asdf-vm/asdf

Extendable version manager with support for Ruby, Node.js, Elixir, Erlang & more

25,576

stars

1,987

commits

Go

primary language

Sep 3, 2026

updated

asdf-vm.com/
asdf-vm
bash
cli
elixir
elvish
erlang
fish
golang
multiple-languages
node
nushell
powershell
python
ruby
shell
version-manager
zsh
Browse cluster: Shell & Terminal Autocomplete

README

asdf

Lint Tests

Manage multiple runtime versions with a single CLI tool, extendable via plugins - docs at asdf-vm.com

asdf is a CLI tool that can manage multiple language runtime versions on a per-project basis. It is like gvm, nvm, rbenv & pyenv (and more) all in one! Simply install your language's plugin!

Why use asdf?

  • single CLI for multiple languages
  • consistent commands to manage all your languages
  • single global config keeping defaults in one place
  • single .tool-versions config file per project
  • support for existing config files .node-version, .nvmrc, .ruby-version for easy migration
  • automatically switches runtime versions as you traverse your directories
  • simple plugin system to add support for your language of choice
  • shell completion available for common shells (Bash, Zsh, Fish, Elvish)

Documentation

Please head over to the documentation site for more information!

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md in the repo or the Contributing section on the docs site.

Community & Questions

  • FAQ
  • GitHub Issues GitHub Issues: report a bug or raise a feature request to the asdf core team
  • StackOverflow Tag StackOverflow Tag: see existing Q&A for asdf. Some of the core team watch this tag in addition to our helpful community

Ballad of asdf

Once upon a time there was a programming language
There were many versions of it
So people wrote a version manager for it
To switch between versions for projects
Different, old, new.

Then there came more programming languages
So there came more version managers
And many commands for them

I installed a lot of them
I learnt a lot of commands

Then I said, just one more version manager
Which I will write instead

So, there came another version manager
asdf version manager - https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf

A version manager so extendable
for which anyone can create a plugin
To support their favourite language
No more installing more version managers
Or learning more commands


This was the mail I wrote to a few friends to tell them about the project. Thanks to @roshanvid for suggesting that this go into the readme
@HashNuke

Contributors

(top 30 of 264)

Stratus3D

757 commits

HashNuke

237 commits

vic

147 commits

jthegedus

123 commits

asdf-vm/asdf

Extendable version manager with support for Ruby, Node.js, Elixir, Erlang & more

25,576

stars

1,987

commits

Go

primary language

Sep 3, 2026

updated

asdf-vm.com/
asdf-vm
bash
cli
elixir
elvish
erlang
fish
golang
multiple-languages
node
nushell
powershell
python
ruby
shell
version-manager
zsh
Browse cluster: Shell & Terminal Autocomplete

README

asdf

Lint Tests

Manage multiple runtime versions with a single CLI tool, extendable via plugins - docs at asdf-vm.com

asdf is a CLI tool that can manage multiple language runtime versions on a per-project basis. It is like gvm, nvm, rbenv & pyenv (and more) all in one! Simply install your language's plugin!

Why use asdf?

  • single CLI for multiple languages
  • consistent commands to manage all your languages
  • single global config keeping defaults in one place
  • single .tool-versions config file per project
  • support for existing config files .node-version, .nvmrc, .ruby-version for easy migration
  • automatically switches runtime versions as you traverse your directories
  • simple plugin system to add support for your language of choice
  • shell completion available for common shells (Bash, Zsh, Fish, Elvish)

Documentation

Please head over to the documentation site for more information!

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md in the repo or the Contributing section on the docs site.

Community & Questions

  • FAQ
  • GitHub Issues GitHub Issues: report a bug or raise a feature request to the asdf core team
  • StackOverflow Tag StackOverflow Tag: see existing Q&A for asdf. Some of the core team watch this tag in addition to our helpful community

Ballad of asdf

Once upon a time there was a programming language
There were many versions of it
So people wrote a version manager for it
To switch between versions for projects
Different, old, new.

Then there came more programming languages
So there came more version managers
And many commands for them

I installed a lot of them
I learnt a lot of commands

Then I said, just one more version manager
Which I will write instead

So, there came another version manager
asdf version manager - https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf

A version manager so extendable
for which anyone can create a plugin
To support their favourite language
No more installing more version managers
Or learning more commands


This was the mail I wrote to a few friends to tell them about the project. Thanks to @roshanvid for suggesting that this go into the readme
@HashNuke

Contributors

(top 30 of 264)

Stratus3D

757 commits

HashNuke

237 commits

vic

147 commits

jthegedus

123 commits

Languages

Go

60.7%

Shell

37.1%

Python

2.0%