Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the difference between UniRTM, mise, and asdf?

asdf is the pioneer in this field, but it is written in pure Bash, has extremely poor Windows support, and introduces significant performance overhead due to its shims mechanism.

mise is a fast rewrite of asdf that completely removes shims and provides a massive performance boost by dynamically altering the $PATH.

UniRTM pays homage to the architectural brilliance of mise and similarly abandons the shims mechanism in favor of lightning-fast shell prompt hooks. However, UniRTM's core advantage lies in the fact that it is more than just a traditional runtime manager. In the era of AI-assisted programming, UniRTM considers AI agent contexts (for Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, etc.) as an indispensable part of the toolchain. It features native, built-in support for SpecKit workflows.

Why does a toolchain manager need to manage AI workflows (SpecKit)?

In the past, development environment consistency simply meant "having the same Node.js or Python version." Today, development teams face a new challenge: "How do we ensure that everyone's AI assistants are following the exact same project conventions, prompt contexts, and workflows?"

UniRTM believes that AI Agent rules are fundamentally part of the modern developer toolchain. Therefore, alongside traditional SDKs, we innovatively introduced the unified management of .agent/rules, creating a true "Single Source of Truth" for AI coding.

Does UniRTM work on Windows?

Absolutely. Unlike asdf, UniRTM is written in Go and treats Windows as an absolute first-class citizen. We have extensively optimized path resolution, environment variable handling, and native terminal support (PowerShell / CMD). You can seamlessly manage cross-platform tools on Windows without relying on WSL (unless you want to).

Can I use my existing .tool-versions (asdf) or mise.toml files?

Yes. To ensure a painless migration, UniRTM natively parses asdf's .tool-versions files and mise's mise.toml configurations. If you are working in a legacy project that already uses asdf or mise, simply installing UniRTM is enough to take over the environment smoothly.

How does UniRTM dynamically modify environment variables?

UniRTM does not use slow shims. When you run eval "$(unirtm activate bash/zsh)" in your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc, UniRTM injects a highly lightweight hook function into your Shell (such as precmd in zsh or PROMPT_COMMAND in bash).

Every time you change directories or hit enter, this hook evaluates the current directory structure at nanosecond speeds. If it detects a .unirtm.toml, it dynamically rewrites $PATH and other environment variables directly within the current Shell context. This means the node or python you execute is the actual binary on disk, with zero intermediate layer overhead.

How do I set global default versions?

You can directly modify the global configuration file at ~/.config/unirtm/config.toml, or use the command line for a quick setup:

unirtm use --global node@20

How do I uninstall UniRTM?

UniRTM is entirely self-contained and leaves no persistent registries or deep system dependencies. Uninstalling takes just two steps:

1. Open your shell profile (e.g., ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc) and remove the eval "$(unirtm activate ...)" and PATH export lines.

2. Delete the data directories and the binary:

   rm -rf ~/.local/share/unirtm
   rm -rf ~/.config/unirtm
   rm -f ~/.local/bin/unirtm

Can UniRTM replace nvm / pyenv / gvm?

Absolutely. One of the primary goals of UniRTM is to eliminate the chaos of "installing a different version manager for every programming language." Through the single unirtm command-line interface, it supports not only Node.js, Python, and Go, but dozens of mainstream language SDKs and CLI tools. Install once, manage everything.

Does UniRTM manage generic CLI tools other than programming languages?

Yes. UniRTM is not limited to "Runtimes". You can use it to manage any generic binary development tools, such as jq, ripgrep, golangci-lint, trivy, etc. If a tool can run on your platform, you can pin its version in your project configuration. This ensures everyone on your team uses the exact same version of formatters and static analyzers.

How does UniRTM handle project scripts and tasks (Task Runner)?

Just like mise, UniRTM features an incredibly powerful, native cross-platform Task Runner. In the past, you might have relied on make (which has terrible Windows support) or npm run (which requires Node.js). Now, you can define tasks directly in your .unirtm.toml:

[tasks.build]
run = "go build -o unirtm ./main.go"

Then execute it via unirtm run build. It will automatically set up all necessary dependencies and run across platforms seamlessly.

Is UniRTM safe to use in CI/CD pipelines?

Absolutely safe and highly recommended. UniRTM includes optimizations specifically designed for non-interactive (headless) environments, and we provide an official GitHub Action setup-unirtm. In CI/CD, it is not only faster than traditional multi-step setups, but it also shares the exact same .unirtm.toml as your local environment, ensuring "if it works on my machine, it works in CI."