URL: /quickstart

---
title: "Quickstart"
description: "Install squirrelscan and run your first SEO audit"
---

## Installation

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="macOS / Linux">
    ```bash
    curl -fsSL https://squirrelscan.com/install | bash
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Windows">
    ```powershell
    iwr -useb https://squirrelscan.com/install.ps1 | iex
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

This downloads the binary to `~/.local/bin/squirrel` and adds it to your PATH.

<Tip>After installation, run `squirrel self doctor` to verify everything is set up correctly.</Tip>

## Three Ways to Use squirrelscan

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="CLI for Humans">
    Run audits directly with human-readable terminal output:
    ```bash
    squirrel audit example.com
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="AI Agent Skill">
    Install the skill for autonomous AI workflows:
    ```bash
    npx skills install squirrelscan/skills
    ```
    Then run `/audit-website` or prompt your AI agent:
    ```
    Use the audit-website skill to audit this site and fix all issues
    ```
    <Info>For best results, use the skill in **plan mode** if your agent supports it. This lets the agent analyze issues and create an implementation plan before making changes.</Info>
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Pipe to AI">
    Export reports to Claude or other AI assistants:
    ```bash
    squirrel audit example.com --format llm | claude
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Info>See [AI Agent Integration](/agents) for detailed guidance on using squirrelscan with Claude Code, Cursor, and other AI coding assistants.</Info>

## Run Your First Audit

Audit a website with a single command:

```bash
squirrel audit https://example.com
```

You'll see output like:

```
 ▄█▀ ▄▀█ █ █ █ █▀▄ █▀▄ █▀▀ █   ▄█▀ ▄▀▀ ▄▀█ █▄ █
 ▀▄  █ █ █ █ █ ██▀ ██▀ █▀  █   ▀▄  █   █▀█ █ ▀█
 █▄▀ ▀▀█ ▀▄▀ █ █ █ █ █ █▄▄ █▄▄ █▄▀ ▀▄▄ █ █ █  █

  v0.0.16 (beta)  •  https://squirrelscan.com
────────────────────────────────────────────
Auditing  https://example.com
Coverage  surface · max 100 pages
Config    defaults
Account   you@example.com · 500 credits
Dashboard https://app.squirrelscan.com

✓ Audited 12 pages in 2.1s

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
SQUIRRELSCAN REPORT
https://example.com • 12 pages • 72/100 (C)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Category Breakdown:
--------------------------------------------------
Core SEO             ███████░░░ 75%
Content              ████████░░ 82%
Links                █████████░ 91%
...

ISSUES

Core SEO (1 error, 3 warnings)
  core/meta-description Meta Description (error)
    ✗ meta-description: Missing meta description
      → /about
      → /contact

  core/og-tags Open Graph Tags (warning)
    ⚠ og-image: Missing og:image
      → /

Content (2 warnings)
  content/word-count Word Count (warning)
    ⚠ word-count: Thin content: 150 words (min 300)
      → /landing

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
87 passed • 12 warnings • 3 failed
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
```

## Common Options

<Steps>
  <Step title="Limit pages crawled">
    For large sites, limit pages to get faster results:
    ```bash
    squirrel audit https://example.com -m 10
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Export to JSON">
    Output machine-readable JSON for CI/CD or AI processing:
    ```bash
    squirrel audit https://example.com -f json -o report.json
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Generate HTML report">
    Create a visual HTML report:
    ```bash
    squirrel audit https://example.com -f html -o report.html
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fresh crawl">
    Ignore cache and fetch all pages fresh:
    ```bash
    squirrel audit https://example.com --refresh
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Output Formats

| Format | Flag | Use Case |
|--------|------|----------|
| `console` | (default) | Human-readable terminal output |
| `json` | `-f json` | CI/CD pipelines, programmatic processing |
| `html` | `-f html` | Visual reports for sharing |
| `markdown` | `-f markdown` | Documentation, GitHub |
| `text` | `-f text` | Plain text output |
| `llm` | `-f llm` | Compact AI-optimized (40% smaller than XML) |
| `xml` | `-f xml` | Verbose structured XML for enterprise |

<Note>
All formats work with both `squirrel audit --format` and `squirrel report --format`. The `xml` format is only available via `squirrel report`.
</Note>

## Using with AI Agents

squirrelscan is designed for AI workflows. Two primary methods:

### 1. Install the Skill (Recommended)

```bash
npx skills install squirrelscan/skills
```

Then use with Claude Code, Cursor, or any skill-compatible agent:

```
Use the audit-website skill to audit example.com and fix all issues
```

### 2. Pipe Output to AI

```bash
# Audit and pipe directly to Claude
squirrel audit example.com --format llm | claude "analyze and prioritize fixes"
```

The `--format llm` provides compact, token-optimized output designed specifically for AI agents.

<Tip>See [AI Agent Integration](/agents) for advanced workflows including plan mode, subagents, and continuous monitoring.</Tip>

## Next Steps

- Run `squirrel --help` for all available commands
- See [Configuration](/configuration) to customize audit behavior
- Check [CLI Reference](/cli/audit) for full audit options
- View the [GitHub repo](https://github.com/squirrelscan/squirrelscan) for updates