ctio CLI Documentationv0.5.2

Windows (scoop, recommended)

Adds the Conversion Tools scoop bucket and installs ctio onto your PATH. Future versions update with scoop update ctio.

scoop bucket add conversiontools https://github.com/conversiontools/scoop-bucket
scoop install ctio

First time only, if scoop is not installed yet:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://get.scoop.sh | Invoke-Expression

Windows (manual download)

If you prefer not to use scoop:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/conversiontools/ctio/releases/download/v0.5.2/ctio-windows-x64.exe -OutFile ctio.exe

Move ctio.exe to a directory on your PATH, or add the current directory to PATH.

macOS and Linux (Homebrew, recommended)

Installs ctio from the Conversion Tools tap with no Gatekeeper prompt. Future versions update with brew upgrade ctio.

brew install conversiontools/tap/ctio

macOS (Apple Silicon, manual download)

curl -fL https://github.com/conversiontools/ctio/releases/download/v0.5.2/ctio-darwin-arm64 -o ctio
chmod +x ctio
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ctio 2>/dev/null || true
sudo mv ctio /usr/local/bin/

The binaries are not notarized, so the xattrline clears Gatekeeper's quarantine flag on the downloaded file. Homebrew installs don't need it.

macOS (Intel, manual download)

curl -fL https://github.com/conversiontools/ctio/releases/download/v0.5.2/ctio-darwin-x64 -o ctio
chmod +x ctio
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ctio 2>/dev/null || true
sudo mv ctio /usr/local/bin/

Linux (manual download)

curl -fL https://github.com/conversiontools/ctio/releases/download/v0.5.2/ctio-linux-x64 -o ctio
chmod +x ctio
sudo mv ctio /usr/local/bin/

Basic file-to-file conversion

ctio convert -t json_to_excel data.json out.xlsx

Uploads the file, runs the conversion, downloads the result to out.xlsx, prints a JSON status line.

Stdin to file (no temp file on disk)

cat data.json | ctio convert -t json_to_excel - out.xlsx

Streams the input directly into the upload. Safe for very large inputs - never buffers in memory.

File to stdout (pipe-friendly)

ctio convert -t xml_to_csv data.xml - > out.csv

Result streams to stdout. Status JSON goes to stderr so the pipe stays clean.

Compose with other tools

ctio convert -t pdf_to_text invoice.pdf - | head -200 | grep -i total

ctio fits into Unix pipelines like any other CLI. Combine with jq, sed, awk, or pass to another ctio invocation.

Conversion options

ctio convert -t excel_to_xml in.xlsx out.xml --option show_columns=no --option header=yes

Pass conversion-specific options with repeatable --option key=value flags. `ctio describe excel_to_xml --format pretty` lists the options, their allowed values and defaults. If the API ignores an option or replaces a value, ctio prints a warning on stderr.

Remote URL input

ctio convert -t website_to_pdf --url https://example.com out.pdf

No local file required. The API fetches the URL server-side.

Find a converter

ctio list --from pdf --to text --format pretty

Browse the converter registry by input or output format. Add --detail to see option keys.

Inspect a task

ctio task <task_id> --format pretty

Useful when running long jobs or debugging failures. Add --wait to block until SUCCESS/ERROR, --download to fetch the result.