Installation

Every release publishes native builds on GitHub Releases. There is no runtime to install first: fonts are embedded in the binary, and the Linux AppImage bundles its own X11/Wayland/font libraries.

macOS
Windows
Linux

Download the DMG that matches your Mac and drag tty7 into Applications.

Mac	File
Apple silicon (M1 and later)	`tty7-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg`
Intel	`tty7-<version>-macos-x86_64.dmg`

Builds are signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, so Gatekeeper opens them without a right-click dance.

Builds are produced on macOS 14 and macOS 15. macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later is the tested range.

Two shapes, both x86-64:

File	Use it when
`tty7-<version>-windows-x86_64-setup.exe`	You want a normal install with Start-menu entries and an uninstaller.
`tty7-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip`	You want it portable — unzip anywhere and run `tty7-app.exe`.

The installer offers one optional setup task, off by default: Add “Open in tty7” to the folder context menu. It writes shell verbs under HKCU, so only your own Windows account is affected, and the uninstaller always takes them back out.A portable install can add or remove the same entries itself:

tty7-app.exe --register-explorer-menu
tty7-app.exe --unregister-explorer-menu

The Windows package also carries a Linux tty7-server binary so a WSL distro can be served locally instead of downloading one. See Remote workspaces.

File	Use it when
`tty7-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage`	Almost always. `chmod +x` and run — the X11, Wayland, xkb, and font libraries are bundled, so it works on Fedora, Arch, Debian and friends, not just Ubuntu.
`tty7-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz`	You would rather unpack the plain binary and place it yourself.

chmod +x tty7-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./tty7-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage

The `tty7` command

Every installer ships the tty7 CLI beside the app, and the app puts it on your PATH the first time it launches. That is what lets a script — or a coding agent in some other terminal — open panes and read them back.

On Unix it is a symlink into whichever of /opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/bin, ~/.local/bin, ~/bin, or ~/.cargo/bin your PATH already covers.
On Windows the install directory is appended to your user PATH, and the uninstaller removes it again.

A tty7 you installed yourself — a cargo install build, a package manager’s copy — is never replaced. To turn the whole thing off, uncheck Settings → Agents → Install the tty7 command on PATH.

Inside a tty7 pane the CLI works regardless of PATH, because panes inherit the app’s environment.

Updating

tty7 checks for updates every six hours and can update itself: Settings → About → Check now, then Update and relaunch. Releases are downloaded and verified in the background so applying one is just a restart. Pick Stable or Nightly under Settings → About → Update channel. See Updates and channels for what each feed publishes and how switching behaves.

Building from source

You need a stable Rust toolchain. The build is a plain cargo build; the app binary is tty7-app.

macOS / Windows
Linux

git clone https://github.com/l0ng-ai/tty7
cd tty7
cargo build --release

gpui resolves its X11/Wayland/font backends through pkg-config at build time, so the development packages have to be present:

sudo apt-get install -y pkg-config cmake clang \
  libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev \
  libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev \
  libwayland-dev libx11-dev libxcb1-dev \
  libzstd-dev libssl-dev libkrb5-dev
cargo build --release

A source build does not update itself, and it will not replace an installed copy’s server. If you run both, see Troubleshooting.

Uninstalling

macOS

Quit tty7 (use Quit and Stop Server from the tray menu so the background server stops too), then drag the app to the Trash. Your settings live in ~/.config/tty7 and are left alone; delete that folder to remove them.

Windows

Use Add or remove programs. The uninstaller removes the PATH entry and any Explorer context-menu keys it added. Settings live in %APPDATA%\tty7.

Linux

Delete the AppImage or the unpacked directory. Settings live in ~/.config/tty7.

Getting started

The window

The terminal

Coding agents

Remote work

Git

Customization

Installation

The `tty7` command

Updating

Building from source

Uninstalling

​The tty7 command

​Updating

​Building from source

​Uninstalling

The `tty7` command

Updating

Building from source

Uninstalling