---
title: "Install Fredrin"
description: "System requirements for macOS, Windows and Linux, the prerequisites Fredrin probes on first launch, how updates work, and the Windows SmartScreen warning."
url: "https://www.fredrin.com/docs/install"
updated: "2026-08-11"
---

# Install Fredrin

Fredrin is a native desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. It runs Workers on your machine, so it depends on a handful of tools it does not ship.

## Download

Builds for both platforms are on the [download page](https://www.fredrin.com/download).

| Platform | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| macOS | `.dmg` | Apple silicon and Intel. |
| Windows | `.exe` installer | Signed. See the SmartScreen note below. |
| Linux | `.AppImage` | Make it executable and run it. No package manager, no root. |

## Prerequisites

Fredrin runs Workers on your machine rather than on a server, so it depends on tools that live there. On first launch it probes all of them in one pass and renders a checklist with the detected version per row.

| Tool | Required | Platform | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Git | yes | all | No clone, no worktree, no branch. |
| Git-Bash | yes | Windows | The shell agents run under. Without it the fallback to `cmd.exe` corrupts commands silently. |
| An agent CLI | yes | all | No agent, no Worker. Claude Code is the default. |
| jq | yes | all | The ticket wrapper depends on it. |
| GitHub CLI | no | all | Optional. Fredrin opens pull requests over the REST API when `gh` is absent. |
| GitHub sign-in | no | all | Optional. The server-supplied credential ladder covers it. |
| node | no | all | The context engine degrades gracefully without it. |

**On Windows, a missing required row holds the app closed.** That is deliberate: every one of those failures used to announce itself as a raw error at the moment of use, halfway through a Worker run. Better to fail at the front door.

**On macOS the gate fails open.** The checklist still tells you what is missing.

Fredrin can install most of these for you from inside the app. Where it cannot, the row links to the vendor's own instructions.

### Git for Windows

Install [Git for Windows](https://gitforwindows.org) and make sure Git-Bash is included. It ships in the default install but is easy to untick, and Fredrin's Windows preflight will hold the app closed until it is present.

## The Windows "unknown publisher" warning

If SmartScreen says the publisher is unknown, that is not a signing failure. Fredrin's Windows builds are signed.

Microsoft rotated the certificate authority behind its Azure Trusted Signing service, and a freshly rotated CA carries no reputation with SmartScreen until enough installs accumulate. Every application signed under it shows the same warning for a while.

Click **More info**, then **Run anyway**. You can confirm the signature yourself: right-click the installer, then **Properties → Digital Signatures**.

## Updates

Fredrin updates itself in place. It checks on launch and in the background, downloads in the background, and applies the update on the next restart. You do not need to re-download the installer.

If an update fails to apply, reinstalling over the top of the existing install is safe and keeps your projects, settings, and worktrees.

## Where Fredrin puts things

- **Your repositories** stay wherever you cloned them. Fredrin does not move or copy your code.
- **Worktrees** are created next to the repository, one per running ticket, and cleaned up when the ticket completes.
- **Settings and credentials** live in the OS keychain and the app's own directory, never in your repository.

Nothing about your code leaves your machine unless you turn it on. See [privacy](https://www.fredrin.com/docs/memory/privacy) for exactly what does and does not cross the network.

## Next steps

- [Quickstart](https://www.fredrin.com/docs/quickstart) - run and merge your first ticket.
- [Connect your AI subscription](https://www.fredrin.com/docs/subscription) - what Workers actually run on.
- [Troubleshooting](https://www.fredrin.com/docs/troubleshooting) - when the preflight will not go green.