Step 0 — Installation

Install reqmd in 30 seconds with go install, build from source, or download a prebuilt binary. Then verify the install against the bundled 249-requirement spec.

Three ways to get reqmd on your machine. Pick one.

Option 1 — go install (fastest)#

If you already have Go on your $PATH:

go install github.com/dVoo/reqmd/cmd/reqmd@latest

The binary lands in $(go env GOBIN) (or $(go env GOPATH)/bin).

Option 2 — Build from source#

git clone https://github.com/dVoo/reqmd
cd mdreq
go build -o reqmd ./cmd/reqmd
./reqmd --help

Works on every platform Go supports — Linux, macOS, Windows, *BSD.

Option 3 — Prebuilt binary#

Download a release from GitHub Releases. Extract the archive and put reqmd on your $PATH.

Prerequisites#

  • Go 1.25 or newer — required for the source build.
  • Cgo toolchain (gcc or clang) — only if you build the optional export graph subcommand with the ladybug build tag.

With graph export (optional)#

reqmd export graph writes a LadybugDB database for Cypher queries. It pulls in Cgo and an extra dependency, so it’s gated behind a build tag:

go build -tags ladybug -o reqmd ./cmd/reqmd

Without the tag, reqmd export graph is not built. The rest of the CLI works exactly the same.

Verify the install#

reqmd --version         # shows the version
reqmd check spec/       # validate the bundled dogfooded spec (249 requirements)

If the second command prints Summary: 249 total, 249 valid, 0 invalid, 0 parse errors, you’re good to go.

What’s next#

Now write your first requirement — go to Step 1.