install

Install Chan

Use Chan Desktop for the normal editor experience. Use the standalone CLI when you want chan serve, shell-first workflows, or a server binary without the desktop shell.

Desktop

Desktop packages are built by the desktop release workflow.

Standalone CLI

The shell installer installs only the chan CLI. It does not install desktop packages.

$curl -fsSL https://chan.app/install.sh | sh

Set PREFIX to change the install directory. Set METADATA_URL to test another release metadata source. Direct download links use release metadata and fall back to GitHub Releases.

After install

$chan serve ~/notes

The CLI starts a loopback server, prints the per-launch URL with its bearer token, and serves the editor from the embedded web bundle.