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Desktop App Installation

Download and install the Chatalot desktop application for your platform.

Status: Beta

Supported Platforms

Platform Architecture Package Format Status
Linux x86_64, ARM64 AppImage, .deb Available
Windows x86_64 NSIS installer Available
macOS x86_64, ARM64 .dmg Planned

Download

Pre-built packages are available from the GitHub Releases page. Download the appropriate file for your platform:

  • Linux (AppImage): Chatalot_x.x.x_amd64.AppImage -- portable, no installation required
  • Linux (Debian/Ubuntu): Chatalot_x.x.x_amd64.deb -- installs system-wide
  • Windows: Chatalot_x.x.x_x64-setup.exe -- NSIS installer (installs per-user)

System Requirements

All Platforms

  • A running Chatalot server instance to connect to
  • Network access to the server (HTTPS recommended)

Linux

  • WebKitGTK 4.1 (libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0)
  • OpenSSL 3 (libssl3)
  • A running display server (X11 or Wayland)
  • For keychain storage: GNOME Keyring or KWallet (Secret Service API)

Windows

  • Windows 10 version 1803 or later (WebView2 runtime required)
  • WebView2 is pre-installed on Windows 10 1803+ and Windows 11

macOS

  • macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later

Installing on Linux

AppImage

# Download the AppImage
chmod +x Chatalot_*.AppImage

# Run it
./Chatalot_*.AppImage

No installation is required. The AppImage is a self-contained executable.

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo dpkg -i Chatalot_*_amd64.deb

If you encounter dependency errors:

sudo apt-get install -f

Dependencies (Debian/Ubuntu)

The .deb package declares these dependencies:

  • libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0
  • libssl3

Install them manually if needed:

sudo apt-get install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 libssl3

Arch Linux

Install the WebKitGTK dependency:

sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1

Then run the AppImage, or extract and install manually.

Fedora / RHEL

sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1 openssl

Installing on Windows

Run the NSIS installer (Chatalot_*_x64-setup.exe). The installer:

  • Installs to the current user's AppData directory (no admin required)
  • Creates a Start Menu shortcut
  • Registers an uninstaller

Building from Source

If pre-built packages are not available for your platform, or you want to run the latest code, you can build from source.

Prerequisites

  1. Rust toolchain (stable, 1.85+): 

    curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

  2. Node.js (20+) and npm: 

    # Using your system package manager, or:
curl -fsSL https://fnm.vercel.app/install | bash
fnm install 20

  3. Tauri CLI: 

    cargo install tauri-cli --version "^2"

  4. Platform-specific dependencies:

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu): 

sudo apt-get install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libssl-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev \
  build-essential pkg-config

Linux (Arch): 

sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1 base-devel openssl

Linux (Fedora): 

sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel openssl-devel \
  libappindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel

Build Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://forgejo.seglamater.app/seglamater/chatalot.git
cd chatalot

# Install web client dependencies
cd clients/web
npm install

# Build the desktop app
cd ../desktop
cargo tauri build

The built packages will be in clients/desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Development Mode

To run the desktop app in development mode with hot reload:

cd clients/desktop
cargo tauri dev

This starts the Svelte dev server on http://localhost:5173 and opens the Tauri window pointing to it.

First Launch

When you first launch the desktop app, you will see the Connect screen:

  1. Enter the URL of your Chatalot server (e.g., https://chat.example.com)
  2. The app validates the connection by checking the server's health endpoint
  3. Once connected, you are redirected to the login/register screen
  4. The server URL is saved and used automatically on future launches

To connect to a different server later, go to Settings > Account and use the server disconnect option.

Updating

The desktop app includes built-in auto-update support. When a new version is available, a banner appears at the top of the chat window. Click it to download, install, and restart the app automatically.

If the auto-updater is unavailable (e.g., network issues), you can update manually:

  1. Download the latest release from the GitHub Releases page
  2. Install it over your existing installation (same process as initial install)

Your login session, preferences, and encryption keys are preserved across updates.

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