The curl installer authenticates and activates a prebuilt versioned Desk release, then makes the complete desk CLI immediately available on your existing PATH.

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Requirements

You need /bin/bash, a working curl with TLS trust, and the platform checksum utility (sha256sum on Linux or shasum -a 256 on macOS). The shell also checks the standard uname, mktemp, mkdir, chmod, rm, and wc commands before downloading release bytes. Supported release targets are:
  • macOS x64 and arm64
  • glibc Linux x64 and arm64, including WSL
Alpine and other musl systems are rejected before activation because Desk does not publish a compatible application closure for them. The installer does not invoke apt, dnf, pacman, zypper, apk, Homebrew, npm, Bun, Python, tar, or a compiler. The release carries authenticated Node 22.23.1, Moor, native dependencies, and ripgrep under the Desk install root; it does not replace global runtimes.
The generated shell authenticates a target-native bootstrap. The bootstrap validates manifest schema 3, downloads only the selected prebuilt application, Node, and Moor assets, verifies their complete closure, and activates them atomically. Desk resolves explicit DESK_MOOR_BIN, then an attested same-release libexec/moor, then an attested absolute moor on PATH.
Agent CLIs (codex, claude, opencode, and optionally qwen, kimi, grok), gh, and GPU telemetry commands are optional. Install only the integrations you intend to use.

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Install and start Desk

1

Install the CLI

The installer refuses a launcher directory outside PATH and refuses to overwrite an unidentified desk command. A successful install therefore makes curl ... | bash && desk serve valid in the invoking shell.
2

Start the default server

Plain serve launches the private Bun runtime and embedded UI. It binds to 127.0.0.1:5173 by default.
Open http://127.0.0.1:5173 and confirm that the Desk UI loads.
3

Create your first session

In the UI, open Add session and choose a session name, agent or command, and repository directory. Desk writes the session to ~/.config/desk/desk.yml and owns its Moor lifetime.

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Choose the Vite development mode

Use Vite only when you are developing Desk or need source-level UI behavior:
The modes are explicit and fail closed. Plain desk serve never falls back to Vite, and desk serve --dev never falls back to Bun. Host and port precedence is: flags, then DESK_HOST / DESK_PORT, then 127.0.0.1:5173.

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Authenticate optional integrations

Sign in through each tool’s own CLI:
Missing optional tools disable only their related subsystem.

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Operate a configured fleet

desk up starts missing configured sessions without replacing running Moor sessions.

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Upgrade, reinstall, or downgrade

Rerun the installer to resolve and install the latest release:
Pin a binary-only release for an explicit install or downgrade:
A same-version run creates and verifies a new immutable instance instead of modifying the active one. After activation, Desk retains the current and previous instances for rollback. Stores written by Desk v0.3.1 or older are not migrated by the current release. Desk v0.3.2 is the last release that migrates them in place; a machine still on v0.3.1 or older must boot v0.3.2 once against its store before upgrading further. A newer Desk that meets an unmigrated store refuses it by name and says so — see Troubleshooting.

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Uninstall the managed application

Uninstall verifies Desk ownership before removing the launcher, releases, and install metadata. It preserves ~/.config/desk, projects, Moor sessions, credentials, and optional host tools. To remove configuration too, inspect it first and then delete it explicitly:

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Build from source

Contributors should use the same pins as CI: Node 22.23.1, npm 10.9.8, and Bun 1.3.14, plus make and a working C/C++ toolchain.
See Distribution and deployment for the versioned layout and release assets, and Run Desk securely before changing the bind address.

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Next steps

Model a fleet

Configure projects, groups, sessions, layouts, permissions, and startup.

Use channels

Add agents to rooms, mention them, and inspect delivery diagnostics.

Understand configuration

Learn the desk.yml manifest schema.

Troubleshoot setup

Diagnose installer, PATH, server, and session failures.