Installation

Install Octoparse CLI with npm and verify the Octoparse command.

Octoparse CLI is distributed as an npm package and runs on Node.js 20 or newer.

Requirements

Before installing Octoparse CLI, make sure your environment has:

• Node.js 20 or newer
• npm 8 or newer
• A terminal or command-line shell

Check your Node.js and npm versions:

node -v
npm -v

If your Node.js version is lower than 20, upgrade Node.js before continuing. If npm is missing or outdated, reinstall or upgrade Node.js, because npm is normally bundled with Node.js.

Download Node.js

Install Node.js 20 or newer for your operating system.

Install with npm

Install Octoparse CLI globally:

npm install -g @octoparse-cli/octoparse-cli

After installation, the CLI command is available as:

octoparse

Verify the installation

After installing Octoparse CLI, run a few quick checks to confirm the command is available and the local runtime is ready.

Quick checks

Check the installed version:

octoparse --version

Open the help output:

octoparse --help

octoparse --help shows all available commands, options, authentication rules, and exit codes.

Understand doctor output

Run diagnostics:

octoparse doctor

octoparse doctor checks whether your local environment is ready to run Octoparse CLI. It verifies Node.js, the embedded Octoparse engine, runtime extensions, Chrome availability, and browser mode.

A successful result returns "ok": true.

{
  "ok": true,
  "checks": [
    {
      "name": "node",
      "ok": true,
      "message": "v24.14.0"
    },
    {
      "name": "electron-client",
      "ok": true,
      "message": "not required"
    },
    {
      "name": "browser-mode",
      "ok": true,
      "message": "independent Chrome only"
    }
  ]
}

In this example:

• node confirms that Node.js is available.
• electron-client: not required means the Octoparse desktop app is not required for CLI execution.
• browser-mode: independent Chrome only means local extraction uses an independent Chrome runtime rather than the desktop client’s browser.

Check browser diagnostics

Check the browser environment separately:

octoparse browser doctor

Manage your installation

Use the same npm package name to update or remove Octoparse CLI.

Update Octoparse CLI

To update to the latest published version, run the npm global install command again:

npm install -g @octoparse-cli/octoparse-cli

Then verify the installed version:

octoparse --version

Uninstall Octoparse CLI

To remove the global installation:

npm uninstall -g @octoparse-cli/octoparse-cli

Then verify that the command has been removed:

octoparse --version

If the shell returns octoparse: command not found, the global command has been removed.

Troubleshooting

Issue	What to check
octoparse: command not found	Check that the npm global binary directory is in your shell PATH
Permission error during installation	Check npm global package permissions or use a Node.js version manager. See npm guide →
Node.js version is too old	Upgrade to Node.js 20 or newer
npm install times out	Check your npm registry, proxy, VPN, or firewall settings
Diagnostics fail	Check the ok: false item in octoparse doctor output, then fix the related dependency, such as Node.js, Chrome, engine files, or browser mode

For npm permission issues, see the official npm guide on resolving EACCES permissions errors.

For Octoparse-specific diagnostics, run octoparse doctor and share the failed check with Octoparse support.

What’s next

After installation succeeds, continue with these steps:

Get an API key and log in

Create an Octoparse API key and authenticate the CLI.

Run your first task

List tasks, inspect a task, run it locally, and export data.

Browse all commands

Review common CLI commands for tasks, local runs, cloud runs, and exports.