Install from source

There are no published installers yet. You clone the repository and either run Startica in dev mode or build an unsigned installer for your own computer. Both take a few minutes. Check the requirements first.

Get the code

git clone https://github.com/chriscasper/startica.git
cd startica
corepack enable
yarn

yarn installs every workspace’s dependencies. It also downloads the Electron binary. There’s no env file to set up: you enter your keys in the app, in the welcome wizard or in Settings.

Option 1: run in dev mode

yarn dev:desktop

This opens the Startica window. The first start takes a little longer while Next.js compiles pages. Keep the terminal open: closing it stops the app. The terminal also shows the app’s log.

On a fresh install, the window opens on Welcome to Startica, a three-step setup: connect an AI provider (Claude or OpenAI), add your product, and a few extras. See First run.

Dev mode is the simplest way to start, and it’s what you’ll use to update later. It uses the same data folder as a built copy, so you can switch between them.

Option 2: build your own installer

Build an installer for the computer you’re on:

yarn build:desktop --mac

Use --win on Windows and --linux on Linux. The build compiles the app, bundles the server and its database migrations, then packages everything with electron-builder. It takes a few minutes.

The installer lands in apps/desktop/dist/:

Flag	Output
--mac	A .dmg disk image (plus a .zip of the app), for Apple Silicon and Intel
--win	An NSIS installer .exe (lets you choose the install folder)
--linux	An .AppImage and a .deb package

macOS

Open the .dmg and drag Startica to Applications. Then open it from Applications.

The build isn’t signed or notarized by Apple. An app you built yourself usually opens without a warning, because macOS only checks apps that were downloaded. If you copy the .dmg to another Mac, Gatekeeper blocks it. To open it anyway, try to open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.

Windows

Run the .exe and follow the installer. Windows SmartScreen may show “Windows protected your PC” because the installer isn’t code-signed. Click More info, then Run anyway. Untested.

Linux

Make the AppImage executable, then run it:

chmod +x apps/desktop/dist/*.AppImage

./apps/desktop/dist/Startica-*.AppImage

If it fails to start, you may need FUSE (libfuse2 on recent Ubuntu). Untested.

Running in a browser instead

You can run Startica’s server without the desktop window and use it in your browser. This is mostly for debugging.

yarn dev:desktop-web

The terminal prints a one-time link like http://127.0.0.1:58300/?token=…. Open it once in your browser. It sets a cookie for this run, and you can then use the app normally. Each start prints a new token.

Browser mode differs from the desktop app in a few ways:

• It encrypts secrets with a key file in the data folder, not the OS keychain. Secrets saved in one mode can’t be read in the other. See Troubleshooting.
• It uses the same port (58300) as the desktop app, so you can’t run both at once.
• There’s no tray icon. Background jobs run while the terminal process runs.
• The welcome wizard has no Look around with a sample product first link and no launch-at-login option. To see the sample product, load it into its own data folder with yarn seed:demo (see Try the demo).

If the window never opens

Code editors like VS Code and Cursor set ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1 in their built-in terminals. With that variable set, Electron starts as plain Node instead of as an app, and you get a JavaScript error instead of a window.

yarn dev:desktop clears the variable for you. If you launch Electron or a built copy some other way from an editor terminal, clear it first:

unset ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE

On Windows PowerShell:

Remove-Item Env:ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE

Next

Startica is installed. Continue with the first run, or try the demo first.