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Installation and updates

factorai is a desktop app for macOS and Linux, and for Windows through WSL 2. It needs the Claude Code CLI, already logged in with claude login: factorai drives the claude you have, it never handles your credentials.

Download​

Every build is on the releases page, or one click away from the site's Download button, which picks your platform.

PlatformWhat you get
macOSA universal .dmg, Apple Silicon and Intel in one file. Drag factorai.app to Applications.
LinuxAn .AppImage for x86-64. Make it executable and run it. Needs glibc 2.39 or newer: Ubuntu 24.04+, Debian 13+, Fedora 40+.
Windowsfactorai-setup.exe, which installs the Linux build into your default WSL 2 distribution and adds it to the Start menu. Needs Windows 10 21H2 or Windows 11, x86-64, with WSL 2 already installed.

There is no .deb on purpose: the updater can replace an AppImage in place and never a .deb, and a package that silently stops updating is worse than none.

First launch, and what looks broken​

  • macOS says the app is damaged. Builds are signed but not notarized yet, so Gatekeeper refuses the first launch. Right-click factorai.app, choose Open, then Open again, or clear the quarantine flag:

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/factorai.app

  • macOS asks for App Management the first time an update installs. Allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → App Management; it stays allowed.

  • Windows warns that it protected your PC when the installer runs, because the installer is unsigned. More info → Run anyway. The binary it installs is signed like every other release, and the app verifies its own updates.

  • Linux says GLIBC_2.38 not found. The distribution is older than Ubuntu 24.04; build from source there.

Updates​

factorai checks for a new release on launch and every six hours, downloads it in the background and verifies its signature. Nothing restarts on its own, because a restart kills running sessions: when a version is staged, Update ready appears in the sidebar footer and in Settings → About, and you choose when to restart.

Check for updates in the same two places runs a check now instead of waiting for the poll.

On Windows, keep projects inside the distribution​

factorai runs as a Linux app under WSLg, so your repositories, toolchain and claude login live in the distribution. Keep projects under ~ there. A folder on /mnt/c works, but it goes over a network filesystem: git is slow and file watching does not work, so the session list will not update on its own, and factorai marks such a project with a warning.