aurtools

A small set of shell scripts to manage AUR packages on Arch Linux without yay, paru, or any other AUR helper.

This project follows the classic AUR workflow: clone the package repository, review the PKGBUILD, build with makepkg, and install with pacman -U. [web:22][web:303][web:305]

Included scripts

• aurinstall — clone or update an AUR package repository, optionally review PKGBUILD, build the package, and install it with pacman -U. [web:22][web:305]
• aurupdate — iterate through local AUR package repositories, pull updates, rebuild selected packages, and reinstall them locally. [web:22][web:305]
• aurremove — remove installed AUR packages with pacman -Rns and optionally delete the local repository directory. [web:46][web:107]
• _aurtools — Zsh completion file for the scripts, including optional online package-name completion for aurinstall via the AUR RPC interface. [web:281]

Why use this

This setup is intended for users who want full visibility into what gets built and installed from the AUR. Instead of relying on a full AUR helper, it keeps each package as a normal Git repository under ~/Aur, making updates and audits easier to understand and review. [web:22][web:189]

Requirements

Install the usual Arch build tools first:

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git

Some optional features require additional tools:

sudo pacman -S curl jq zsh

• curl and jq are used by the optional online completion for aurinstall through the AUR RPC API. [web:281]
• zsh is needed only for the provided completion script.
• An editor such as nvim is useful if aurinstall is run with review options like -e, -E, or -d.

Installation

Copy the scripts somewhere in your PATH, for example ~/.local/bin:

mkdir ~/Aur
install -Dm755 aurinstall ~/.local/bin/aurinstall
install -Dm755 aurupdate ~/.local/bin/aurupdate
install -Dm755 aurremove ~/.local/bin/aurremove

Install the Zsh completion file:

mkdir -p ~/.zsh/completions
install -Dm644 completions/_aurtools ~/.zsh/completions/_aurtools

Then ensure the completion directory is in fpath and initialize completion in ~/.zshrc:

fpath=("$HOME/.zsh/completions" $fpath)
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit

Repository layout

The scripts assume that AUR repositories are stored under ~/Aur by default:

~/Aur/
├── package-one/
├── package-two/
└── package-three/

Each package is kept as its own Git repository cloned from https://aur.archlinux.org/<pkgname>.git, which matches the documented AUR workflow. [web:22][web:189]

Usage

Install a package

aurinstall proton-pass-bin

This clones the package if needed, builds it with makepkg, and installs the resulting package file with pacman -U. [web:22][web:305]

Prompt before editing build files

aurinstall -e swayfx

Always open PKGBUILD before building

aurinstall -E swayfx

Reviewing PKGBUILD before building is an important AUR safety habit because makepkg executes build instructions defined there. [web:303][web:305]

Download and audit only

aurinstall -d swayfx

This mode updates or clones the repository and lets the user inspect package files without building or installing anything.

Update local AUR repositories

aurupdate

This walks through the repositories stored in ~/Aur, pulls upstream changes, and rebuilds selected packages.

Remove a package

aurremove calcure

This removes the installed package with pacman -Rns, which removes the package, unneeded dependencies, and package-managed config files. [web:46][web:107][web:212]

Zsh completion

The included completion script supports:

• local completion from existing repositories in ~/Aur for aurinstall
• optional remote name completion for aurinstall through the AUR RPC interface [web:281]
• completion of installed foreign packages for aurremove via pacman -Qm [web:46]

If completion behaves strangely after changes, rebuild the completion cache:

rm -f ~/.cache/zsh/zcompdump*
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit

Security note

AUR packages are user-contributed build scripts, not official binary packages. The safest workflow is to inspect PKGBUILD, sources, checksums, and build steps before installation. [web:22][web:303][web:305]

License

A permissive license such as MIT or ISC fits this kind of shell-script project well. GitHub recommends adding an explicit license if the repository is meant to be reused by others. [web:317][web:322]