Installation

Kiki ships as three forms — the Kiki desktop app for Windows, Linux, and macOS, the CLI/TUI (TUI — the text interface you type into inside a terminal), and a local server for browser and API clients. They share one background daemon (the process Kiki keeps running so every form sees the same session data) and one session store, so you can start a task in the terminal and pick it up in the desktop app.

This page covers installing and updating each form. First launch covers what to do next.

Before you install

Kiki's terminal form runs in any modern terminal. Windows Terminal and your system's built-in terminal need no changes.

A terminal with true-color and font ligatures renders the interface more crisply — Kitty and Ghostty are two good choices. Any terminal works if you skip this.

Install the desktop app

The desktop app bundles the Kiki server and CLI/TUI. On Windows and with the Linux deb, installation makes kiki available in a new terminal; an AppImage or dmg does not modify your shell's PATH (the list of directories searched for executables).

Platform	Desktop bundle	CLI on PATH after installation
Windows x64	Kiki_*_x64-setup.exe	Yes, in a new terminal
Linux x64	Kiki_*_amd64.deb / Kiki_*_amd64.AppImage	deb: yes unless /usr/local/bin/kiki already belongs to another tool; AppImage: no
macOS Apple Silicon	Kiki_*_aarch64.dmg	No, link the bundled CLI manually
macOS Intel	Kiki_*_x64.dmg	No, link the bundled CLI manually

macOS needs 13.5 or later; that floor comes from the bundled runtime, so it applies however you install. Intel and Apple Silicon are separate downloads — pick the one matching your Mac. Linux desktop bundles are x64 only (deb or AppImage); the Linux CLI/TUI additionally builds for arm64.

On Windows, Kiki's Bash tools need Git for Windows and .NET Framework 4.x, which is included with Windows 10 and 11. Enable or repair .NET Framework if it is missing or disabled. The process helper ships with Kiki; the computer running Kiki needs no compiler.

1. Open the Kiki Releases page and select the required stable or beta kiki-v<version> tag.
2. Download the desktop bundle for your system and its adjacent .sha256 file. Compare the published hash with your downloaded file (shasum -a 256 <file> on macOS, sha256sum <file> on Linux, or Get-FileHash <file> -Algorithm SHA256 in Windows PowerShell).
3. Install it: run the Windows installer or sudo apt install ./Kiki_*.deb; on Linux AppImage, run chmod +x Kiki_*.AppImage then ./Kiki_*.AppImage; on macOS, mount the dmg and drag Kiki to Applications.

The macOS dmg is not Apple-signed or notarized. After verifying the hash, Control-click the app in Applications and choose Open on first launch, then confirm Open in the dialog. If macOS still blocks it, remove the quarantine flag from that copy with xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Kiki.app.

The dmg puts no kiki command on your PATH. To use the bundled CLI from a terminal, first check that /usr/local/bin/kiki does not already exist, then run:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -s /Applications/Kiki.app/Contents/MacOS/kiki-server /usr/local/bin/kiki

For the Windows SmartScreen prompt and updater details, see Kiki desktop.

Install the CLI

For a terminal-only install, pick the standalone executable for your platform from a kiki-v<version> tag on GitHub Releases. Windows has no standalone CLI file; the desktop installer provides kiki there.

Platform	Standalone file
Linux x64 / ARM64	kiki-linux-x64 / kiki-linux-arm64
macOS Intel / Apple Silicon	kiki-darwin-x64 / kiki-darwin-arm64

Download the file together with its <filename>.sha256 companion, compare the two hashes, rename the executable to kiki, run chmod +x kiki, and put it somewhere on your PATH. A standalone executable needs no Node.js. Once the desktop app is installed, kiki desktop opens it; without an installation it prints a download link.

With Node.js 24.22.1 or later, or Node.js 26.12.1 or later, you can install from npm instead:

npm install -g kiki-agent       # CLI/TUI and the matching desktop build
npm install -g kiki-agent-lite  # CLI/TUI only
kiki --version

Install one of the two, not both — each one provides the same kiki command. kiki-agent also downloads the desktop build for your platform and verifies its SHA-256, so it needs network access during install and covers Windows and Linux x64 plus macOS Intel and Apple Silicon. kiki-agent-lite ships the CLI only.

Both npm packages use the Windows Bash requirements above. If you installed Git Bash somewhere other than the default location, set KIKI_SHELL_PATH to the absolute path of bash.exe.

Development from source

Working on the CLI itself needs Node.js 24.22.1 or later on the 24 line, or Node.js 26.12.1 or later, and pnpm 10.33.0. Node.js 25 and Node.js 26 releases before 26.12.1 are not supported. The repository is a pnpm (Node.js package manager) workspace; from its root:

node --version
pnpm --version
pnpm install
pnpm dev:cli -- --help

dev:cli starts the local development build and forwards --help to the CLI entry point, so nothing needs to be published or installed globally.

Update and uninstall

For a release build, verify the installed version before upgrading:

kiki --version

Update: replace a standalone kiki executable with the newer file from the matching Release asset, or run npm install -g kiki-agent@latest / npm install -g kiki-agent-lite@latest for an npm install. On Windows the desktop app can also check for and install signed NSIS updates from Settings → About; see Kiki desktop. Linux and macOS desktop bundles have no in-app updater, so download the newer bundle yourself.

Uninstall: delete a standalone kiki executable from your PATH, or run npm uninstall -g kiki-agent / npm uninstall -g kiki-agent-lite. That removes the CLI only — remove the desktop app through the system: Installed apps in Windows Settings, your package manager for a Linux deb, or dragging Kiki.app out of Applications on macOS. To stop working on the source, delete your checkout.

None of these steps touch your data. Session history and configuration live under ~/.kiki/ and are still there after you reinstall; Data locations explains how to remove them deliberately.

Next steps

• First launch — start the daemon-backed UI, log in, and run your first conversation
• Kiki desktop — desktop install channels, updates, rollback, and SmartScreen details