Download CQLi

New to CQLi? Read the Quick Start guide first →

Current Release

Version: 1.0.8
Release date: October 31, 2026
Linux: glibc 2.27 or later
macOS: 10.14+ (Intel), 11.0+ (Apple Silicon)
Windows: Windows 7 SP1 or later
Price: Free
Release notes: What’s new in 1.0.8

Direct downloads

Each zip file contains the CQLi executable for its platform and the Reference Manual as a PDF (manual.pdf), which is also available online as the HTML Reference Manual. The executable is cqli on Linux and cqli.exe on Windows; the macOS zip contains cqli-arm64 for Apple Silicon and cqli-x86_64 for Intel Macs. Commands on this site use the name cqli, so substitute the name for your platform or rename the file.

The CQLi executables are not signed or notarized, so your system may block the first run:

macOS: if you downloaded the zip with a web browser, macOS may refuse to run the extracted executable. Remove the quarantine with xattr -d com.apple.quarantine cqli-arm64 (or cqli-x86_64), or, after the first blocked attempt, allow it under Privacy & Security in System Settings (Security & Privacy in System Preferences on older versions). Files downloaded with curl, as in the commands below, are not quarantined.
Windows: if SmartScreen warns that the app is unrecognized, choose More info and then Run anyway.

Install from a terminal

Linux

curl -LO https://cql64.com/downloads/cqli-1.0.8-linux.zip
unzip cqli-1.0.8-linux.zip
./cqli -version

macOS

curl -LO https://cql64.com/downloads/cqli-1.0.8-macos.zip
unzip cqli-1.0.8-macos.zip
./cqli-$(uname -m) -version

The macOS zip contains cqli-arm64 for Apple Silicon and cqli-x86_64 for Intel Macs; uname -m selects the one for your Mac.

Windows

Invoke-WebRequest https://cql64.com/downloads/cqli-1.0.8-windows.zip -OutFile cqli.zip
Expand-Archive cqli.zip
.\cqli\cqli.exe -version

Need games to search? The PGN Databases page lists free sources, and the Quick Start walks through your first queries. Earlier releases are described in the Revision History.