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.

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

🍎 macOS (Homebrew)

Tap the McSCert repository and install:

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

🐧 Linux & Windows (WSL): 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

🐍 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):

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.

Updated: