Install IDA GitHub Action

A GitHub Action to download and install IDA Pro using the Hex-Rays Command Line Interface (hcli). Handles all dependencies automatically - no need to set up Python or uv separately!

This can be used to include a CI workflow for your plugins. The action works with linux, windows and macos.

📋 Prerequisites

Before using this action, you need:

Valid IDA Pro License: You must have a valid IDA Pro license from Hex-Rays
Hex-Rays CLI API Key: Create an API key using the Hex-Rays CLI:
```
hcli login 
hcli auth key create
```

For detailed instructions, see the Hex-Rays CLI documentation

You can check your licenses and API keys on https://my.hex-rays.com

Required Repository Secrets

Add these secrets to your GitHub repository:

IDA_LICENSE_ID: Your IDA Pro license identifier (eg: 96-ABCD-EFGH-00)
HCLI_API_KEY: Your Hex-Rays Command Line Interface API key (eg: hrp-1-f2f4e8.....)

WARNING: Make sure these values are configured as secrets ! Do not hardcode them in your workflow definition

To add secrets to your repository:

Go to your repository → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions
Click "New repository secret"
Add each required secret with the exact names above

✨ Features

📁 IDA Pro installation - Downloads and installs IDA Pro to temp directory
🔗 Environment setup - Sets IDADIR and IDABIN for subsequent steps
✅ Installation verification - Verifies successful installation
🔧 Automatic hcli installation - Installs Hex-Rays CLI tool
🐍 Automatic Python setup - Sets up the specified Python version
📦 Automatic uv installation - Installs the latest uv package manager
🧹 Flexible cleanup - Option to clean up tools or keep them available

Usage

- name: Install IDA Pro
  uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
  with:
    installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
    license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
    api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}

Inputs

Input	Description	Required	Default
`api-key`	HCLI Api Key	✅	-
`installer-id`	IDA Pro installer ID (e.g., "release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run")	✅	-
`license-id`	IDA Pro license ID	✅	-
`hcli-version-specifier`	Version specifier for ida-hcli to install (e.g., ">=0.6.0", "==0.6.0", "~=0.6.0")	❌	`>=0.6.0`
`clean`	Clean up installation tools after IDA installation (true=clean, false=keep tools)	❌	`true`
`python-version`	Python version to install	❌	`3.10`

Outputs

Output	Description
`ida-dir`	Directory where IDA Pro was installed
`ida-bin`	Path to IDA Pro binary

🚀 Complete Example Workflow

name: Test with IDA Pro

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
    # Option 1: Clean installation (default) - only IDA Pro remains
    - name: Install IDA Pro (clean)
      uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
      with:
        installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
        license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
        api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}
    
    # Option 2: Keep tools available for subsequent steps
    - name: Install IDA Pro
      id: ida-install
      uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
      with:
        installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
        license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
        api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}
        clean: false  # Keep tools for subsequent steps
    
    - name: Use IDA Pro
      run: |
        echo "IDA installed at: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-dir }}"
        echo "IDA binary at: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}"
        
        # Run IDA headless
        "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}" --help || echo "IDA help not available"

Cross-Platform Matrix Example

name: Test IDA Pro Installation

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test-ida:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    strategy:
      matrix:
        include:
          - { os: ubuntu-latest,  platform: linux,   installer_id: "release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run" }
          - { os: windows-latest, platform: windows, installer_id: "release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64win.exe" }
          - { os: macos-latest,   platform: macos,   installer_id: "release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_armmac.app.zip" }
      fail-fast: false

    name: Test IDA 9.1 on ${{ matrix.platform }}

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Install IDA Pro
      id: ida-install
      uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
      with:
        installer-id: ${{ matrix.installer_id }}
        license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
        api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}

    - name: Verify Installation
      shell: bash
      run: |
        echo "IDA installed at: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-dir }}"
        echo "IDA binary at: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}"
        
        # Check if IDA directory exists
        if [ -d "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-dir }}" ]; then
          echo "✅ IDA directory exists"
          ls -la "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-dir }}"
        else
          echo "❌ IDA directory not found"
          exit 1
        fi

    - name: Test IDA Binary
      shell: bash
      run: |
        # Test IDA binary (platform-specific)
        if [ -f "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}" ]; then
          echo "✅ IDA binary found at: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}"
          "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}" --help || echo "IDA help not available"
        elif [ -f "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}.exe" ]; then
          echo "✅ IDA binary found at: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}.exe"
          "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}.exe" --help || echo "IDA help not available"
        else
          echo "❌ IDA binary not found"
          exit 1
        fi

🔧 Advanced Configuration

Clean Installation (Default)

Only IDA Pro remains after installation - all tools are cleaned up:

- name: Install IDA Pro (clean)
  uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
  with:
    installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
    license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
    api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}
    # clean: true is the default

Keep Tools Available

Keep Python, uv, and hcli for subsequent workflow steps:

- name: Install IDA Pro (keep tools)
  uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
  with:
    installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
    license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
    api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}
    clean: false  # Keep tools available

Custom Python Version

- name: Install IDA Pro with Python 3.12
  uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
  with:
    installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
    license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
    api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}
    python-version: '3.12'
    clean: false

Custom hcli Version

- name: Install IDA Pro with specific hcli version
  id: ida-install
  uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
  with:
    installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
    license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
    api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}
    hcli-version-specifier: '==0.6.0'

- name: Use IDA Pro
  run: |
    echo "IDA binary: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}"
    "${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}" --version

Cross-job Usage

jobs:
  install:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      ida-dir: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-dir }}
      ida-bin: ${{ steps.ida-install.outputs.ida-bin }}
    steps:
      - name: Install IDA Pro
        id: ida-install
        uses: hexrays/ida-hcli-actions/install-ida@v1
        with:
          installer-id: 'release/9.1/ida-pro/ida-pro_91_x64linux.run'
          license-id: ${{ secrets.IDA_LICENSE_ID }}
          api-key: ${{ secrets.HCLI_API_KEY }}

  test:
    needs: install
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Use IDA from previous job
        run: |
          echo "IDA directory: ${{ needs.install.outputs.ida-dir }}"
          echo "IDA binary: ${{ needs.install.outputs.ida-bin }}"

Notes

IDA Pro is installed to a temporary directory ($RUNNER_TEMP/opt/ida)
The action provides outputs ida-dir and ida-bin for subsequent workflow steps
This action uses the official Hex-Rays CLI tool for installation
The action works across Linux, Windows, and macOS platforms
No sudo permissions required - uses temporary directories

License

This action is provided as-is. IDA Pro itself requires a valid license from Hex-Rays.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome!

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 12 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
install-ida		install-ida
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md

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Repository files navigation

Install IDA GitHub Action

📋 Prerequisites

Required Repository Secrets

✨ Features

Usage

Inputs

Outputs

🚀 Complete Example Workflow

Cross-Platform Matrix Example

🔧 Advanced Configuration

Clean Installation (Default)

Keep Tools Available

Custom Python Version

Custom hcli Version

Cross-job Usage

Notes

License

Contributing

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Repository files navigation

Install IDA GitHub Action

📋 Prerequisites

Required Repository Secrets

✨ Features

Usage

Inputs

Outputs

🚀 Complete Example Workflow

Cross-Platform Matrix Example

🔧 Advanced Configuration

Clean Installation (Default)

Keep Tools Available

Custom Python Version

Custom hcli Version

Cross-job Usage

Notes

License

Contributing

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