wasmCloud

wasmCloud hosts applications packaged as WebAssembly components. Its Wasm Shell, wash, provides commands for developing, building, and running components, including a local development server through wash dev.

You can install wash on Arm Linux without compiling wasmCloud or installing Rust. To build an application, you’ll need the appropriate language toolchain.

Before you begin

You need an Arm Linux system and internet access.

Confirm your processor architecture:

    

        
        
uname -m

    

The expected output is:

    

        
        aarch64

        
    

Install wash

There are two ways to install wash. The install script is a single command that always installs the latest version. The GitHub release download lets you pin a specific version and verify the checksum before installing.

Install using the install script

Install curl:

    

        
        
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y curl

    

Run the install script to download and install wash:

    

        
        
curl -fsSL https://wasmcloud.com/sh | bash

    

The script detects your platform automatically and installs wash to ~/.wash/bin.

The output is similar to:

    

        
        [INFO] Installing wash - The Wasm Shell
[INFO] Install directory: ~/.wash/bin
[INFO] Detecting platform...
[INFO] Platform detected: aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
[INFO] Fetching latest release information...
[INFO] Version: v2.12.0
[INFO] Downloading wash binary...
[SUCCESS] wash v2.12.0 installed successfully to ~/.wash/bin/wash
[SUCCESS] Verified installation

        
    

The script updates your shell profile automatically.

Open a new terminal, or run the following command to use wash in your current session:

    

        
        
source ~/.bashrc

    

Install a specific version from GitHub

Use this method when you need a pinned, verifiable install.

Install curl and ca-certificates:

    

        
        
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl

    

Download the prebuilt aarch64 binary:

    

        
        
mkdir -p "$HOME/.cache/wasmcloud-install/2.11.0"
curl -fL --retry 3 \
  https://github.com/wasmCloud/wasmCloud/releases/download/v2.11.0/wash-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu \
  -o "$HOME/.cache/wasmcloud-install/2.11.0/wash"

    

Verify the SHA-256 checksum against the value published for the v2.11.0 release :

    

        
        
printf '%s  %s\n' \
  'c3b2204dd99ae2bc46c1236967f4a328cebe3b57d3d5a1605091618eff66bcad' \
  "$HOME/.cache/wasmcloud-install/2.11.0/wash" \
  | sha256sum --check

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        /home/ubuntu/.cache/wasmcloud-install/2.11.0/wash: OK

        
    

If your username isn’t ubuntu, the path will reflect your actual username. If the checksum fails, download the file again and confirm that the version and asset name match before continuing.

Install wash to your user executable directory:

    

        
        
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
install -m 0755 "$HOME/.cache/wasmcloud-install/2.11.0/wash" "$HOME/.local/bin/wash"

    

Add $HOME/.local/bin to your PATH:

    

        
        
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

    

Verify the installation

Check the installed version:

    

        
        
wash --version

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        wash 2.12.0

        
    

Confirm that the development host command is available:

    

        
        
wash dev --help

    

The output is similar to:

    

        
        Start a development server for a Wasm component

Usage: wash dev [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -o, --output <OUTPUT>
          Specify output format (text or json)

          [default: text]

  -l, --log-level <LOG_LEVEL>
          Set the opentelemetry log level (trace, debug, info, warn, error)

          [default: INFO]

      --verbose
          Enable verbose output

      --non-interactive
          Run in non-interactive mode: skip terminal checks for host exec and accept the default
          answer for any confirmation prompts. Automatically enabled when stdin is not a TTY

      --user-config <USER_CONFIG>
          Path to user configuration file

      --meters <METERS>
          What to measure about guests: `off`, `duration`, or `fuel` [default: duration]

  -h, --help
          Print help (see a summary with '-h')

        
    

Displaying help doesn’t start a listener or load an application.

Next steps

You can now use wash to build and run a WebAssembly application on Arm.

To learn more, see Run and benchmark a WebAssembly application on AWS Graviton with wasmCloud .