Installing Plinth

Plinth is a desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Every release is built by public GitHub Actions from a tagged commit and published on the releases page.

Plinth is currently beta software (versions look like 0.1.0-beta.2). Expect rough edges, and expect updates.

One thing to know up front: the builds are not code-signed. Signing certificates cost real money every year (the Apple Developer Program and a Windows code-signing certificate together run roughly $220/year), and for a free, open-source app that cost is deliberately skipped for now. The practical consequence is that Windows and macOS will show a scary warning the first time you run the app. Those warnings mean "this publisher hasn't paid to be identified", not "this app is malicious" — but you shouldn't take that on faith. You can verify it yourself: the source code is public, and each release is produced by a public CI run from a tagged commit, so what you download is what the code says. The sections below walk through each platform's warning step by step.

Windows

Download Plinth_<version>_x64-setup.exe from the releases page — the NSIS installer. (Pre-release builds ship the .exe only; an .msi for deployment tooling may return for stable releases.)

If your browser flags the download

Edge and Chrome sometimes hold back unsigned installers before you even get to run them:

• Edge: in the downloads popup, hover the file, click the … menu → Keep → Show more → Keep anyway.
• Chrome: in the downloads bar or panel, choose Keep (you may need to expand the entry to find it).

Running the installer past SmartScreen

Double-clicking the installer shows a blue dialog titled "Windows protected your PC". To proceed:

1. Click More info (small link under the message text).
2. Click Run anyway.

The installer then runs normally. SmartScreen's reputation is tracked per file, so a brand-new release binary always starts with none — this warning will reappear with every new version until enough people have run that exact file. That is expected, not a regression.

macOS

Download Plinth_<version>_universal.dmg — a single universal build that runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Open the .dmg and drag Plinth into your Applications folder.

The app is ad-hoc signed but not notarized by Apple, so Gatekeeper objects on first launch. What you do next depends on your macOS version.

macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later

The old right-click trick no longer works here. On first launch you get "Apple could not verify 'Plinth' is free of malware…" with no way to open it from that dialog:

1. Click Done to dismiss the dialog.
2. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
3. Scroll down to the Security section — you'll see a line saying Plinth was blocked, with an Open Anyway button.
4. Click Open Anyway, then confirm in the dialog that follows (macOS asks for your password or Touch ID).

This is needed once per install; after that Plinth opens normally.

macOS 14 and earlier

1. In Applications, right-click (or Control-click) Plinth and choose Open.
2. In the warning dialog, click Open.

Subsequent launches work with a normal double-click.

Terminal fallback (advanced)

macOS attaches a quarantine attribute to files downloaded from the internet; it's that flag that triggers the Gatekeeper check. If you're comfortable in a terminal, you can clear it directly:

xattr -cr /Applications/Plinth.app

Only do this for software you've decided to trust — it removes the check rather than passing it.

Linux

No signing ceremony here; pick the format that fits your distro from the releases page.

AppImage (any distro)

chmod +x Plinth_<version>_amd64.AppImage
./Plinth_<version>_amd64.AppImage

AppImages need libfuse2 on some distros — notably Ubuntu 22.04 and later, where it's no longer preinstalled:

sudo apt install libfuse2

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

sudo apt install ./Plinth_<version>_amd64.deb

Fedora / openSUSE (.rpm)

Install with dnf (Fedora) or zypper (openSUSE), pointing at the downloaded file.

First run

The installers register Plinth as the handler for .3pk and .3dpak files — the 3D model package format Plinth opens (see the .3pk spec). Once installed, double-clicking one of those files opens it in Plinth.

Updating

Updates are currently manual: download the new installer from the releases page and run it over the existing installation (on macOS, drag the new app over the old one in Applications). Your settings and catalog are preserved — they live in the app data directory, not the install directory, so replacing the app doesn't touch them.

Because the builds are unsigned, the OS warnings described above will reappear on every update — each new release is a new, unrecognized binary. Walk through the same steps as before.

Uninstalling

• Windows: Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Plinth → Uninstall.
• macOS: drag Plinth.app from Applications to the Trash.
• Linux: sudo apt remove plinth / sudo dnf remove plinth for the packaged installs; for the AppImage, just delete the file.

Uninstalling removes the app, not your library or catalog data.

FAQ

Why is the app unsigned?

Code signing costs roughly $220/year across Apple and Windows certificates. Plinth is a free indie project, and that money currently buys nothing except suppressing a dialog. This may change later — if the project grows, signing is the obvious first spend.

Is it safe?

You don't have to trust a claim: the code is open source, and every release binary is built by a public GitHub Actions workflow from a tagged commit. Anyone can read the code, inspect the CI run that produced a release, or build the same thing themselves.

My antivirus flagged the download

False positives are common for unsigned Rust binaries — heuristic scanners are suspicious of anything new and unrecognized. If it happens, report the false positive to your antivirus vendor (most have a submission form), or build from source and sidestep the question entirely.

Building from source

You need stable Rust and Bun:

bun install
bun run tauri build

The bundles land in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/. For a full development setup, see CONTRIBUTING.md.