Install CAT CLI
OK, CAT seems cool. What do I do to start using it?
Prerequisites
Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable
Go to this Microsoft webpage: Latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Version
Download and install “X64” version:
If you get a dialog with “Repair”, “Uninstall” and “Close” buttons, just close it - you already have this prerequisite. Otherwise install it (next, next, next…).
Install CAT CLI
Using WinGet
The installation is easiest from WinGet:
winget install DataTools.CATCLI
Download Installer
If you cannot use WinGet, download CAT CLI directly from this site: CAT CLI download page. Grab the version marked as “latest” and install it - it is simple “next, next next”.
Run CAT CLI
Run catcli --version or catcli -v:
One-time setup
CAT command-line tools are available in the Team plan (interactive usage only, no schedulers or CI/CD) and in the Enterprise plan (no technical limits). Go to CAT Portal and activate a free trial for Team or Enterprise plan — no credit card needed.
If you activated the Team plan trial:
- Sign up at CAT Portal.
- Go to Developer → Personal access tokens and generate a token.
- Set it using
setx CAT_PORTAL_TOKEN "paste-your-token-here"and restart your terminal.
If you activated the Enterprise plan trial:
- Get the license key that arrived in your email.
- Set it using
catcli instance --setLicenseKey "your-key".
The token is used for signing in only — except feature-usage telemetry, no data is sent to CAT Portal. A license key removes the need to sign in, and CAT can then work even without Internet access.
What Next?
OK, you have CAT CLI. In the next step, create a sample project and explore it.