Install

Aether runs on:

• macOS 12 or newer, Apple Silicon or Intel.
• Linux, x86_64 or aarch64, with glibc. The browser panel uses GTK 3 and WebKitGTK 4.1, and the UI needs a Vulkan driver.

There is no Windows build.

Aether drives agent CLIs but does not install them. Install the ones you want to use (claude, codex, opencode, pi, agy) and sign in to each the usual way before you start.

macOS

Open the Aether-<version>-macos-<arch>.dmg and drag Aether into Applications.

Builds made on your own machine use an ad-hoc signature. If macOS refuses to open one, build from source or see packaging and signing for notarized builds.

Debian and Ubuntu

sudo apt install ./Aether-<version>-linux-<arch>.deb

The package declares its shared library dependencies, so apt pulls in WebKitGTK and the rest.

Other Linux distributions

The tarball contains a usr/ tree. Extract it and copy it under /usr/local:

mkdir -p /tmp/aether-install
tar -xzf Aether-0.1.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C /tmp/aether-install
sudo cp -R /tmp/aether-install/Aether-0.1.0-linux-x86_64/usr/. /usr/local/
sudo update-desktop-database /usr/local/share/applications
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f -t /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor

Adjust the version and architecture to match your file. The desktop entry, Wayland app ID and X11 window identity are all dev.aether.Aether.

Linux packages depend on the host’s libraries, including WebKitGTK. They are not self-contained binaries, so use a package built on a distribution at least as old as yours.

Build from source

You need Rust through rustup. The repository pins its compiler in rust-toolchain.toml, and rustup installs it the first time you run Cargo.

On macOS, install the Xcode command line tools and CMake (whisper.cpp needs it):

xcode-select --install
brew install cmake

On Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 13, the repository has a script for the native dependencies:

sudo bash scripts/setup-linux.sh

Other distributions need the equivalent development packages. See the GPUI dependency list and the Wry Linux requirements.

Then run it:

cargo run --locked -p aether

On macOS, make install builds a release Aether.app and puts it in /Applications.

Make sure Aether can find your CLIs

Apps launched from Finder or a desktop launcher get the desktop session’s PATH, not your shell’s. If a CLI lives somewhere like ~/.local/bin, either add that folder to the desktop PATH or set the binary’s full path in Settings. Aether also searches common install folders on its own.

Next: your first session.