Setup¤

There are multiple ways to install pwndbg, depending on whether you want to use it with GDB, with LLDB, use a portable release, or install it from source.

Installing pwndbg-gdb¤

Install via curl/sh (Linux/macOS)

curl -qsL 'https://install.pwndbg.re' | sh -s -- -t pwndbg-gdb

Install via Homebrew (macOS)

brew install pwndbg/tap/pwndbg-gdb

Install via the Nix package manager (Linux/macOS)

nix shell github:pwndbg/pwndbg

Through package manager¤

When installing with GDB, you may also download a package to install through your package manager of choice. Download the package from the releases page and pick the appropriate download from the second table.

RPM-based Systems (CentOS/Alma/Rocky/RHEL):

dnf install ./pwndbg-2025.04.18.x86_64.rpm

DEB-based Systems (Debian/Ubuntu/Kali):

apt install ./pwndbg_2025.04.18_amd64.deb

Alpine:

apk add --allow-untrusted ./pwndbg_2025.04.18_x86_64.apk

Arch Linux:

pacman -U ./pwndbg-2025.04.18-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

Installing pwndbg-lldb¤

These installation methods provide the

pwndbg-lldb ./your-binary

command.

Install via curl/sh (Linux/macOS)

curl -qsL 'https://install.pwndbg.re' | sh -s -- -t pwndbg-lldb

Install via Homebrew (macOS)

brew install pwndbg/tap/pwndbg-lldb

Install via the Nix package manager (Linux/macOS):

nix shell github:pwndbg/pwndbg#pwndbg-lldb

Download the Portable Version¤

You can download a portable release on the pwndbg releases page. There are seperate releases for GDB and LLDB. Use the first table to pick the appropriate download for your system architecture. You can then unpack the archive with:

tar -v -xf <archive-name>

And run pwndbg with

./pwndbg/bin/pwndbg

or

./pwndbg/bin/pwndbg-lldb

depending on which version you installed. You may add the appropriate file to your shell's PATH.

.gdbinit doesn't work for portable release

If you're running ./pwndbg/bin/pwndbg from the portable release, it is a known limitation that pwndbg settings in your .gdbinit won't work (see issue #2774). Also, make sure not to source pwndbg in your gdbinit as it already happens automatically for portable releases (if this is the first time you're installing pwndbg, you don't need to worry about this).

Installing from source¤

See the relevant section in DEVELOPING.md: with GDB, with LLDB.