Silently Installing Projects

Installing software “silently”, or without the need for user interaction during the installation process, is essential for simplifying and automating the deployment of software. From large-scale Enterprise deployments to individual user installations, installing your project silently can improve efficiency, consistency, and the overall user experience.

The process to silently install your project will differ depending on the type of project, and the method of installation (using the State Tool or an Offline Installers). All run options and flags available for interactive project installations are also available for silent installations.

Silent installation for public projects using the State Tool

Silent installation for private projects using the State Tool

Silent installation for Offline Installers

Silent installs for public projects using the State Tool

If you’re scripting the installation process, you can bypass the State Tool prompts using the --non-interactive flag, for example

state checkout <orgname>/<projectname> -runtime-path <location> --non-interactive

This will check out the project to the specified location by selecting the default options in the prompts returned by the State Tool. This method is for public projects, or in situations where account authentication is not required.

Silent Installations for private projects using the State Tool

Before you can silently install your private project you’ll need to authenticate your account using the State Tool.

  1. First, generate an API token using
state export new-api-key <projectname>
  1. Then, enter the API token (or “API key”) into an environmental variable on your system. Directions on how to do so will vary depending on which system is currently used.
  2. In your command terminal, authenticate using
state auth -token <API token>
  1. You are now authenticated and able to access the private project. You can install the project using the same state checkout command used for public projects.
state checkout <orgname>/<projectname> –runtime-path <location> --non-interactive

For developers who can authenticate on their machine, running the state auth command before checking out the private project will be sufficient. This authentication will only need to be done once and will remain active until the State Tool is removed from the environment.

Silent installation for Offline Installers

ActiveState offers silent installation for Offline Installers as part of the Universal Packager feature for both Windows and Linux operating systems. Click here to learn about Offline Installers.

After downloading your Offline Installer

  1. Open a command terminal
  2. Go to the directory containing your downloaded Offline Installer.
  3. Install the project using the following code, replacing the content in angles brackets with the name of your installer file
<installer-filename> -non-interactive
  1. Your project will be automatically installed on your local system at the default location below
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Programs\<installer-filename>

After downloading your Offline Installer

  1. Open a command terminal
  2. Go to the directory containing your downloaded Offline Installer.
  3. To install the project enter the following code, replacing the content in angles brackets with the name of your installer file.
./<installer-filename> --non-interactive
  1. Your project will be automatically installed on your local system at the default location below
/home/<username>/.local/share/applications/<installer-filename>

Information on how to uninstall your offline installer is available for Windows and Linux. After uninstalling your project you will receive a confirmation notice in the terminal. Note that uninstalling your offline installer will not remove the containing directory.