Installing Buildkite Agent on Linux

This page references the out-of-date Buildkite Agent v2.

For docs referencing the Buildkite Agent v3, see the latest version of this document.

You can install Buildkite Agent on most Linux based systems (including macOS).

Installation

Run the following script (view the source), which will download and install the correct binary for your system and architecture:

TOKEN="INSERT-YOUR-AGENT-TOKEN-HERE" bash -c "`curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/buildkite/agent/main/install.sh`"

Then, start the agent:

~/.buildkite-agent/bin/buildkite-agent start

Alternatively you can follow the manual installation instructions.

SSH key configuration

SSH keys should be copied to (or generated into) ~/.ssh/ for the user the agent is running as. For example, to generate a new private key which you can add to your source code host:

$ mkdir -p ~/.ssh && cd ~/.ssh
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "build@myorg.com"

See the Agent SSH keys documentation for more details.

File locations

  • Configuration: ~/.buildkite-agent/buildkite-agent.cfg
  • Agent Hooks: ~/.buildkite-agent/hooks
  • Builds: ~/.buildkite-agent/builds
  • SSH keys: ~/.ssh

Configuration

The configuration file is located at ~/.buildkite-agent/buildkite-agent.cfg. See the configuration documentation for an explanation of each configuration setting.

Upgrading

Rerun the install script.