mise-docker-bootstrap

Bootstrap pattern — pinned mise, no curl | sh

Every "quick start" guide says curl https://mise.run | sh in your Dockerfile. That works but it:

1. Makes the build depend on the network.
2. Pulls whatever mise version happens to be current, so rebuilds are not reproducible.
3. Gives every rebuild a chance to break when a new mise release has a regression you haven't vetted.

The mise generate bootstrap command solves all three by generating a small self-contained bootstrap script that downloads a specific pinned mise version, verifies its checksum, and installs it locally. You commit it to the repo and use it from the Dockerfile.

The command

Run once, from any machine that has mise:

mise generate bootstrap --localize --write
# short form:
mise generate bootstrap -l -w

This:

1. Writes ./bin/mise — a shell script that downloads mise at the pinned version (the version currently on the generating host).
2. With -l/--localize, also writes a small helper so the script is usable via relative path.
3. -w/--write writes to disk instead of printing to stdout.

Commit ./bin/mise to the repo. It's a few KB.

Using it in a Dockerfile

# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.7
FROM debian:12-slim AS builder

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
      curl git ca-certificates \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

WORKDIR /workspace

# Copy the bootstrap first so it's cached aggressively
COPY bin/mise bin/mise
RUN ./bin/mise --version  # installs pinned mise into ~/.local/share/mise

COPY mise.toml mise.lock ./
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.local/share/mise/installs \
    ./bin/mise trust && ./bin/mise install

COPY . .
RUN ./bin/mise exec -- <build command>

Using it in CI

The same script works in GitHub Actions without the jdx/mise-action:

- run: ./bin/mise install
- run: ./bin/mise run test

This is useful when you need a version of mise that's newer/older than whatever jdx/mise-action@v3 defaults to, or when you don't want to depend on a third-party action.

Upgrading mise

When you want a new mise version:

mise up mise  # or: mise self-update
mise generate bootstrap -l -w
git add bin/mise && git commit -m "chore: bump mise to $(mise --version)"

Now the Dockerfile / CI get the new version on the next build. No curl | sh in sight.

Why not just ENV MISE_VERSION=2026.4.5 and curl | sh -s -- --version $MISE_VERSION?

You can, and it works, but:

• You still depend on mise.run being reachable at build time.
• You still depend on the TLS chain being valid and untampered at build time.
• You don't get checksum verification.
• The mise generate bootstrap script handles platform detection, architecture fallback, and checksum verification in one place.

For single-developer projects, the curl | sh form is fine. For anything shipping to production or running in CI at a shop with a security team, use the bootstrap.

Offline / airgapped builds

If your build environment has no internet at all, the bootstrap script's download step will still fail. For airgapped cases:

1. Run the bootstrap once with internet to download the mise binary into ~/.local/share/mise/mise.
2. Commit the resulting binary (or stage it in your build context).
3. Have the Dockerfile copy it directly into /usr/local/bin/mise.

But that's rare. The bootstrap pattern covers 95% of "I want reproducible mise installs".

See also

• mise-docker-patterns — where the bootstrap fits in the canonical Dockerfile.
• mise-lockfile — mise.lock is the other half of reproducibility (pins the tools; bootstrap pins mise itself).
• mise-ci-github-actions — when to use jdx/mise-action vs the bootstrap.
• mise docs: mise.jdx.dev/cli/generate/bootstrap.html.