The jPipe Runner is the jpipe-runner command-line tool: it binds each piece of evidence to a real check written in Python, runs those checks against a compiled justification, and renders a diagram coloured by the result. Installing it lets you execute and verify justifications from a terminal, a build script, or a CI server.

Installing with a package manager (Homebrew or APT, below) is the smoothest option: it pulls in the correct dependencies (Python and Graphviz) for you. The pip route works too, but you provide those prerequisites yourself. On Windows the runner has no native package yet, so pip is the route to take.

You only need the runner once you want your justification checked, not just drawn. If you are only authoring models, the compiler and the IDE are enough.

🍎 macOS (Homebrew)

Tap the McSCert repository and install:

$ brew tap jpipe-mcscert/mcscert
$ brew install jpipe-runner

🐧 Linux (APT)

We build packages for the Ubuntu releases in active support, following our release-target policy: every LTS from 24.04 (Noble) onward while it stays in standard support, plus any interim release still inside its 9-month support window. Add the McSCert Personal Package Archive (PPA):

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mcscert/ppa
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install jpipe-runner

Troubleshooting

If you see add-apt-repository: command not found, install the prerequisites:
```
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install software-properties-common
```

🪟 Windows (pip)

Unlike the compiler, the runner has no Windows package yet: install it from PyPI. Its two prerequisites come from Scoop, the same tool that installs the compiler:

PS> scoop install python
PS> scoop install graphviz
PS> pip install jpipe-runner

Scoop puts Python’s Scripts directory on your PATH, so jpipe-runner is available in a fresh PowerShell prompt once pip finishes. Running Windows Subsystem for Linux instead? The APT route above works unchanged inside your WSL distribution.

🐍 Manual installation (pip)

Prefer not to use a package manager? The runner is a Python package, so install it with pip.

Prerequisites (both on your $PATH):

Python 3.11 or newer: https://www.python.org/downloads/
Graphviz: https://www.graphviz.org/download/

From PyPI

$ pip install jpipe-runner

From source

$ git clone https://github.com/jpipe-mcscert/jpipe-runner.git
$ cd jpipe-runner
jpipe-runner $ pip install .

🩺 Verify your installation

jpipe-runner -h prints its banner (with the installed version) and the usage summary:

$ jpipe-runner -h
usage: jpipe-runner [-h] [--variable VARIABLE] [--library LIBRARY]
                    [--diagram PATTERN]
                    [--format {dot,gif,jpeg,jpg,pdf,png,svg}]
                    [--output-path PATH] [--dry-run] [--verbose]
                    [--config-file CONFIG_FILE] [--python-path PYTHON_PATH]
                    jd_file

McMaster University - McSCert (c) 2023-... - Version 3.5.3
    _ ____  _               ____
   (_)  _ \(_)_ __   ___   |  _ \ _   _ _ __  _ __   ___ _ __
   | | |_) | | '_ \ / _ \  | |_) | | | | '_ \| '_ \ / _ \ '__|
   | |  __/| | |_) |  __/  |  _ <| |_| | | | | | | |  __/ |
  _/ |_|   |_| .__/ \___|  |_| \_\\__,_|_| |_|_| |_|\___|_|
 |__/        |_|

Next steps

With the runner in place, the Runner tutorial walks you through binding a justification’s evidence to real Python checks and reading the coloured result; from there, CI/CD integration runs that check on every push. Since the runner executes the compiler’s JSON output rather than the .jd source, you will also want the compiler on hand to produce it.

Install the Runner