Ovellum

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Install#

Ovellum ships as a single npm package (ovellum). It's a build-time CLI; the package adds nothing to your runtime bundle.

Requirements#

  • Node.js 20 or newer. Node 18 reached end-of-life in April 2025; we don't support it.
  • A TypeScript or JavaScript project. Ovellum can run in either; you don't need tsconfig.json for manual mode.

Adding it to your project#

pnpm#

pnpm add -D ovellum

npm#

npm install --save-dev ovellum

yarn#

yarn add --dev ovellum

bun#

bun add -d ovellum

Without installing#

If you'd rather not commit Ovellum as a dependency, you can run it via npx:

npx ovellum build

The first invocation downloads and caches the package. Subsequent runs reuse the cache. This is convenient for one-off generation but slows down CI because the package manager has to re-resolve each run; for repeated builds, prefer the --save-dev install.

Verifying the install#

After installing, run:

npx ovellum build --help

You should see the synopsis for the build subcommand. If you see "command not found", check that you're inside the project where you installed, and that your package manager's binaries are on PATH (pnpm sometimes needs an extra pnpm setup).

Upgrading#

pnpm update ovellum
# or:
npm update ovellum

Ovellum follows semver. Pre-1.0 releases may include breaking changes on minor versions; check the release notes before bumping.

Uninstalling#

pnpm remove ovellum

The output directory (dist/, docs/, or wherever you pointed output) is yours; uninstalling Ovellum leaves it untouched. You can delete it manually whenever you're ready.

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