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Installing packt-prose

packt-prose checks a chapter against Packt house style and writes copyedits into a Word file as tracked changes. Claude drives it, so installing the tool also installs the instructions Claude needs in order to use it.

Installing takes about two minutes. Everything goes inside your own user folder, so you do not need administrator rights, and you do not need to understand any of the commands below — copy, paste, press Return.

The downloads live on an internal Packt site. The files themselves are served without a sign-in, which is what lets a single command do the whole job; the pages of that site you would read in a browser ask for your Packt account first. If a command reports that the address returned a web page rather than a file, tell the editorial tooling team — it means the downloads have been put behind the sign-in by mistake, and no amount of retrying will get past it.

One thing to know before you start: these builds are not signed. Packt does not currently have the Apple and Microsoft signing certificates that would let macOS and Windows recognise the tool automatically, so both will warn you the first time you run it. That is the expected behaviour for an internal tool, not a sign that anything is wrong, and If something goes wrong has the exact click-through for each system.

macOS

  1. Open Terminal: press Command and Space together, type Terminal, and press Return.

  2. Copy the line below, paste it into the Terminal window, and press Return.

curl -fsSL https://ce.packtpub.services/downloads/packt-prose/latest/install.sh | sh

  1. Read the last few lines of what it prints. If they include a line starting with export PATH, copy that line into the file the installer names, and save it. If they do not, there is nothing to do here.

  2. Quit Terminal and open it again. This is what makes the newly installed command available.

  3. Follow Check it worked below.

Windows

  1. Open PowerShell: press the Windows key, type PowerShell, and press Return.

  2. Copy the line below, paste it into the PowerShell window (a right-click pastes), and press Return.

Invoke-RestMethod https://ce.packtpub.services/downloads/packt-prose/latest/install.ps1 | Invoke-Expression

  1. If a blue box appears saying "Windows protected your PC", see what that means below.

  2. Close the PowerShell window and open a new one. This is what makes the newly installed command available.

  3. Follow Check it worked below.

Linux

  1. Open your terminal application.

  2. Copy the line below, paste it into the terminal, and press Return.

curl -fsSL https://ce.packtpub.services/downloads/packt-prose/latest/install.sh | sh

  1. Read the last few lines of what it prints. If they include a line starting with export PATH, copy that line into the file the installer names, and save it.

  2. Close the terminal and open a new one.

  3. Follow Check it worked below.

Check it worked

In a new terminal or PowerShell window, run this.

packt-prose doctor

Healthy output looks like this. The version, the platform, and the numbers all vary; the shape does not.

packt-prose 2026.08.05.1432
  built from     9f2b7c1e5a8d43069f2b7c1e5a8d43069f2b7c1e
  platform       darwin/arm64
  built with     go1.26.1
  rules embedded 42
  profiles       default, example-book
  style checksum 35cae73c5fccb05c

No problems found. The tool is ready to use.

The last line is the one that matters. On Windows the platform line reads windows/amd64, and on Linux linux/amd64 or linux/arm64.

The version is when it was built: 2026.08.05.1432 is 14:32 UTC on 5 August 2026. So the version tells you directly how old your copy is. If it is more than a few weeks behind, run the install command again — it always fetches the current release, and installing over an existing copy is expected.

The built from line is the exact source the program was built from. Nobody needs it day to day, but quote both lines if you ever report something odd, because together they identify your copy precisely.

Now restart Claude Code and ask it to copyedit a chapter. Claude picks up the instructions the installer left for it, and takes care of the rest.

If something goes wrong

macOS says "Operation not permitted"

Usually alongside a line about getcwd and being unable to reach parent directories. This is macOS protecting the Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders: Terminal cannot read files in them until it has been given permission, and an installer started from Terminal inherits that.

Either move the unpacked folder into your home folder and run the command again, or grant the access in System Settings, under Privacy & Security -> Files and Folders -> Terminal.

The one-line install command does not need the unpacked folder at all — it downloads what it needs — so running it from your home folder is the quickest way past this:

cd ~
curl -fsSL https://ce.packtpub.services/downloads/packt-prose/latest/install.sh | sh

Do not put sudo in front of it. This restriction is on the app, not on your account, so sudo does not lift it, and it would leave the installed files owned by root where a later install cannot replace them.

macOS says the developer cannot be verified

The full message is "packt-prose cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified". The builds are not signed — see the note at the top of this page — so macOS treats anything downloaded as suspect. Run this to clear that mark.

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/.local/bin/packt-prose

Then run packt-prose doctor again. If macOS shows the warning as a dialog box instead, you can also open System Settings, go to Privacy and Security, scroll to the message about packt-prose, and choose "Open Anyway".

Windows says "Windows protected your PC"

This is SmartScreen, and it appears for the same reason: these builds are not signed. Choose "More info", then "Run anyway". If the box has no "More info", close it and run the install command again from a PowerShell window you opened yourself.

The command is not found

macOS or Linux report "command not found: packt-prose"; Windows reports that the name is "not recognized". In both cases the computer installed the tool but does not yet know where to look for it.

First, close the window and open a new one — that alone fixes it most of the time. If it does not, on macOS or Linux run this, then open a new terminal.

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

On Windows, run the install command from the Windows section again, then close and reopen PowerShell.

Claude asks permission every time it runs the tool

The installer sets this up for you only when you have no Claude Code settings file yet, because it will not edit a settings file you already have. Open ~/.claude/settings.json on macOS or Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json on Windows, and add the quoted line below to the allow list, keeping anything already there.

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(packt-prose:*)"
    ]
  }
}

Nothing here helped

Ask the editorial tooling team, and include three things: which operating system you are on, the exact command you ran, and the exact message you got back. If packt-prose doctor runs at all, paste what it printed too.

Signing and centrally managed laptops

The security warnings above have one cause: these builds are not signed yet. Whether they will be signed is pending confirmation.

IT may also install packt-prose centrally on managed laptops instead, in which case the tool simply appears and this page becomes unnecessary. That decision is pending confirmation as well.