Advanced dependency solving
PKGBUILD downloading from ABS or AUR
Completions for AUR packages
Query user up-front for all input (prior to starting builds)
Narrow search (yay linux header will first search linux and then narrow on header)
Find matching package providers during search and allow selection
Remove make dependencies at the end of the build process
Build local PKGBUILDs with AUR dependencies
Un/Vote for packages

Installation

If you are migrating from another AUR helper, you can simply install yay with that helper.

Warning

We are using sudo in these examples. You can switch that out for a different privilege escalation tool.

Source

The initial installation of yay can be done by cloning the PKGBUILD and building with makepkg:

We make sure we have the base-devel package group installed.

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

If you want to do all of this at once, we can chain the commands like so:

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git && cd yay && makepkg -si

Binary

If you do not want to compile yay yourself you can use the builds generated by GitHub Actions.

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git
cd yay-bin
makepkg -si

If you want to do all of this at once, we can chain the commands like so:

sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git && cd yay-bin && makepkg -si

Other distributions

If you're using Manjaro or another distribution that packages yay you can simply install yay using pacman (as root):

pacman -S --needed git base-devel yay

Warning

distributions sometimes lag updating yay on their repositories.

First Use

Development packages upgrade

Use yay -Y --gendb to generate a development package database for *-git packages that were installed without yay. This command should only be run once.
yay -Syu --devel will then check for development package updates
Use yay -Y --devel --save to make development package updates permanently enabled (yay and yay -Syu will then always check dev packages)

Lua Configuration (Experimental)

If init.lua exists in the current working directory, yay uses it for local testing. Otherwise it falls back to the yay config directory. In either case, Lua config replaces the user yay.conf and legacy config.json files.

Working directory path: ./init.lua
Config path: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/yay/init.lua
Fallback path: $HOME/.config/yay/init.lua
Shipped example: init.lua.example

`yay.opt`

Use yay.opt.<key> for normal configuration values. Lua keys accept the same settings as the INI config and can be written in snake_case or their existing config name.

yay.opt.editor = "nvim"
yay.opt.build_dir = yay.api.expand("~/.cache/yay")
yay.opt.clean_menu = true
yay.opt.request_split_n = 150

`yay.api`

yay.api.getenv(name) returns the environment variable value or nil
yay.api.expand(path) expands environment variables and ~/...
yay.api.info(message) writes an info log line
yay.api.warn(message) writes a warning log line
yay.api.error(message) writes an error log line
yay.api.capture(cmd, ...) runs a command and returns stdout, stderr, and exit_code
yay.api.run(cmd, ...) runs a command with inherited stdio and returns exit_code
yay.api.json_decode(json) decodes JSON into Lua tables

Hooks

yay.hook.on_prompt(name, default) can override menu answers for clean, diff, edit, and upgrade
yay.hook.should_include_aur_update(pkg) can override the built-in version-based AUR upgrade decision

The pkg table passed to should_include_aur_update contains:

name
base
repository
local_version
remote_version
local_build_date
remote_last_modified
default_include

This is enough to recreate the old behavior of selecting AUR updates by update time instead of version:

yay.hook.should_include_aur_update = function(pkg)
  if pkg.default_include then
    return true
  end

  if pkg.repository ~= "aur" then
    return false
  end

  if pkg.local_version ~= pkg.remote_version then
    return false
  end

  if pkg.local_build_date == 0 then
    return false
  end

  return pkg.remote_last_modified > pkg.local_build_date
end

External Providers

Lua can also register fully custom upgrade providers under yay.provider. Each provider owns both discovery and execution logic, so yay only handles the menu plumbing.

yay.provider.<name>.search(terms) returns a Lua array of search results
yay.provider.<name>.install(items) executes the selected search/yogurt items for that provider
yay.provider.<name>.list() returns a Lua array of upgrade items
yay.provider.<name>.upgrade(items) executes the selected items for that provider

Each search result can contain:

name
repository
base
version
installed_version
description
extra

Each upgrade item can contain:

name
repository
base
local_version
remote_version
extra

The shipped init.lua.example includes a Homebrew provider that uses brew search and brew install for search/yogurt mode, plus brew outdated --json=v2 and brew upgrade for upgrades.

Examples of Custom Operations

Command	Description
`yay`	Alias to `yay -Syu`.
`yay <Search Term>`	Present package-installation selection menu.
`yay -Bi <dir>`	Install dependencies and build a local PKGBUILD.
`yay -G <AUR Package>`	Download PKGBUILD from ABS or AUR. (yay v12.0+)
`yay -Gp <AUR Package>`	Print to stdout PKGBUILD from ABS or AUR.
`yay -Ps`	Print system statistics.
`yay -Syu --devel`	Perform system upgrade, but also check for development package updates.
`yay -Wu <AUR Package>`	Unvote for package (Requires setting `AUR_USERNAME` and `AUR_PASSWORD` environment variables) (yay v11.3+)
`yay -Wv <AUR Package>`	Vote for package (Requires setting `AUR_USERNAME` and `AUR_PASSWORD` environment variables). (yay v11.3+)
`yay -Y --combinedupgrade --save`	Make combined upgrade the default mode.
`yay -Y --gendb`	Generate development package database used for devel update.
`yay -Yc`	Clean unneeded dependencies.

Frequently Asked Questions

yay does not display colored output. How do I fix it?

Make sure you have the Color option in your /etc/pacman.conf (see issue #123).
Sometimes diffs are printed to the terminal, and other times they are paged via less. How do I fix this?

yay uses git diff to display diffs, which by default tells less not to page if the output can fit into one terminal length. This behavior can be overridden by exporting your own flags (export LESS=SRX).
yay is not asking me to edit PKGBUILDS, and I don't like the diff menu! What can I do?

yay --editmenu --diffmenu=false --save
How can I tell yay to act only on AUR packages, or only on repo packages?

yay -{OPERATION} --aur yay -{OPERATION} --repo
A Flagged Out Of Date AUR Packages message is displayed. Why doesn't yay update them?

This message does not mean that updated AUR packages are available. It means the packages have been flagged out of date on the AUR, but their maintainers have not yet updated the PKGBUILDs (see outdated AUR packages).
yay doesn't install dependencies added to a PKGBUILD during installation.

yay resolves all dependencies ahead of time. You are free to edit the PKGBUILD in any way, but any problems you cause are your own and should not be reported unless they can be reproduced with the original PKGBUILD.
I know my -git package has updates but yay doesn't offer to update it

yay uses a hash cache for development packages. Normally it is updated at the end of the package install with the message Found git repo. If you transition between aur helpers and did not install the devel package using yay at some point, it is possible it never got added to the cache. yay -Y --gendb will fix the current version of every devel package and start checking from there.
I want to help out!

Check CONTRIBUTING.md for more information.

Support

All support related to yay should be requested via GitHub issues. Since yay is not officially supported by Arch Linux, support should not be sought out on the forums, AUR comments or other official channels.

A broken AUR package should be reported as a comment on the package's AUR page. A package may only be considered broken if it fails to build with makepkg.

Reports should be made using makepkg and include the full output as well as any other relevant information. Never make reports using yay or any other external tools.

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