At Uptodown, we keep building new ways to reach our catalog: the long-running web version, our official Android app, and, more recently, our desktop clients. Now we’re adding one more entry point; small in terms of its target audience, but probably the biggest in terms of what it represents: a command-line client for Windows and Mac. We call it Uptodown CLI, and it lets both humans and AI agents search, install, update, list, and remove software directly from any terminal.
Every Uptodown feature, from your command line
Look up a program by name and get the reference in front of you in under a second, without opening a single browser tab. Install it with one command; no extra steps. Update every piece of software on your machine at once. It’s the same service, just seen through a different lens. This is still our catalog of more than 25,000 desktop programs, but now designed for users who previously had to rely on a browser or one of our official clients: sysadmins provisioning multiple machines, developers who regularly rebuild their environment, or simply people who think faster in commands than in menus.
For anyone who prefers a more visual experience without leaving the terminal, the CLI also includes a full TUI mode, which opens when you run it with no arguments. This interface features a search tab and another tab showing installed software, with icons indicating which items have pending updates. The complete command and flag reference (including advanced cases, such as excluding an app from bulk updates) is detailed in this guide.
All of this speaks to the human side of the experience, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg…
Agents: what wasn’t on the radar until now
There’s another reason we wanted to launch this client, and it has nothing to do with enthusiasts typing commands by hand. A CLI, by its very nature, is the easiest interface to operate without anyone watching the screen. There’s no button to interpret, no animation to wait for, no icon to recognize. What used to be “convenient for power users” has recently become the reason AI agents prefer command-line tools over other interfaces. An agent that needs to install software shouldn’t spend time figuring out where the install button is: it needs to run a command and read a structured response. That’s why CLIs have become the best bridge between models and real tools. The discipline known as Agent Experience (AX) focuses on exactly this: making sure agents understand what a tool does, can call it reliably, and know how to recover when something fails. Aligning with these standards is quickly becoming essential.
An agent can write code, edit files, or configure a system. But often, the best solution isn’t generating new software: it’s using software that already exists. If it needs to edit a video, compress a file, or convert a document, there are already thousands of tools for that. The problem shifts from “how do I build this” to “where is it, which version is correct, where does it come from, and how do I keep it updated”: exactly the space our catalog has operated in for twenty years, now for a new kind of user.
It’s no coincidence that Uptodown’s own CLI is already used this way internally: our desktop clients call it under the hood to manage installs without requiring human confirmation. The same path a human click takes can be followed by an automated process, and that’s exactly what an agent needs to act independently with as little friction as possible.
“Users, developers, scripts, automation… and now agents: a new class of user accessing the same software distribution layer. Uptodown already provides access to software published by hundreds of thousands of developers, millions of files and versions, structured metadata, and security analysis systems; designed until now primarily for someone sitting in front of a screen. With the CLI, we’re starting to open that same infrastructure to programmatic consumption as well.”
— Luis Hernández, CEO and co-founder of Uptodown
It’s worth being precise: we haven’t built a separate store or a special catalog for agents. It’s the same catalog everyone already uses; the difference is that programs and agents can now access it too, not just someone at a screen. Future updates will add more agent-focused functionality to return structured data useful for their workflows, whatever those may be.
This also changes how searching works. A person searches for “VLC”. An agent is more likely to start with something like “I need to play this video without uploading it to an external service,” and then decide which tool best fits the operating system, privacy needs, or license. That kind of intent-based search, rather than name-based search, is another area where a structured, verified catalog is becoming essential.
This isn’t just a matter of convenience. The more agents install software on their own (via MCP, plugins, skills, or similar systems), the more important it becomes to know where that software comes from and whether anyone has verified it. Some industry analysis already warns that AI is reopening, in a matter of months, supply-chain questions the software world spent years trying to solve. Uptodown Protect (our analysis and protection system that pulls reports from more than 70 antivirus engines via VirusTotal and already accompanies every listing) wasn’t designed with agents in mind, but it turns out to be exactly the kind of layer an automated ecosystem needs.
One more step in a plan that doesn’t end here
Our CLI is the first part of the Uptodown catalog designed from the start to be used by both people and autonomous systems acting on their behalf, but it doesn’t change our philosophy: we’re still the same open, secure, and permissive catalog. What’s different is who gets to knock on the door.
Web, Android, desktop, and now the terminal aren’t four separate products: they’re the same idea with four different modes of access, each built for a different type of user and need. If that logic holds, and everything suggests it does, the natural question isn’t whether there will be a fifth form, but what it will be and who it’s for. For now, what we can say is that we’re already laying the groundwork for new scenarios, with this CLI being one more step toward a larger vision: that Uptodown isn’t just a place where people find software, but the infrastructure both people and the systems acting on their behalf rely on.
You can get Uptodown CLI for Windows and Mac from the product’s landing page, either by downloading it manually or using a one-line install command. If you’d like a full reference guide before installing, you’ll find it in our Help Center.
