Installing the Ottili Coder Desktop app

Overview

The Ottili Coder Desktop app* is a chat-first command center for Ottili Coder. You describe a goal and Ottili Coder plans, builds, tests, and asks only for the important decisions. It is not an IDE — code, diff, and terminal are an optional power mode.

The desktop app runs on Windows, macOS and Linux* and is part of Ottili Coder, which is publicly available as Public Beta (BETA)*. The desktop surface itself is marked as an available capability (AVAILABLE*). You drive work through two engines:

• Ottili Cloud (native)* — hosted autonomous coding jobs over the Unified API.
• Local / SSH runner* — spawns the ottili-coder CLI on this machine or over SSH on a remote box and streams its output live.

Prerequisites

• Supported OS*: Windows 10 or newer, macOS 12 or newer, or a recent Linux distribution with glibc.
• Ottili account with Coder enabled* — you authenticate through your Ottili identity ("Sign in with Ottili"); there is no separate Coder password.
• Cloud runs* need no extra runtime — the app uses Ottili Cloud natively.
• Local / SSH runs* require the ottili-coder CLI plus Git* and Python 3.11 or newer* on the target machine. Set up the CLI in [Installing the Ottili Coder CLI](/docs/cli-installation).

Download the desktop app

Download the installer for your platform from the Ottili Coder desktop page:

• Windows*: NSIS installer (.exe, 64-bit)
• macOS*: disk image (.dmg) for Intel (x64) and Apple Silicon (arm64)
• Linux*: AppImage (.AppImage, 64-bit)

Install

Install the app like any other desktop application:

1. Windows* — run the downloaded NSIS installer and follow the wizard.

2. macOS* — open the .dmg, drag Ottili Coder* into Applications, and launch it from Launchpad.

3. Linux* — make the AppImage executable (chmod +x ottili-coder-desktop-*.AppImage) and run it.

Sign in with Ottili

1. Launch the desktop app.

2. Choose Sign in with Ottili*.

3. Sign in with your Ottili username and password (via Ottili Auth — the same login as the dashboard).

Alternatively, under Settings → Advanced* you can paste a manually minted ott_ developer API key (for CI or service use). The key is stored only in the main process and, when a keyring is available, encrypted with Electron safeStorage.

First steps after sign-in

• New mission* — write a mission, pick a mode (Build / Fix / Review / Stabilize / Deploy / Full Run …) and an execution target (Local / Cloud / Hybrid), then start.
• Runs* — watch cloud and local runs side by side with live status.
• Run cockpit* — timeline, live summary, agents, and an inspector (files, tests, approvals, logs, cost); pause / resume / cancel / retry / approve.
• Approvals* — approve or reject paused runs without reading logs.
• Changes* — review the diff Ottili Coder prepared before committing.

Local and cloud runs

• Cloud runs* execute natively in Ottili Cloud — you only need the desktop app and a sign-in.
• Local / SSH runs* use the ottili-coder CLI on the machine (or reachable over SSH). Make sure the CLI is set up ([Installing the Ottili Coder CLI](/docs/cli-installation)) and Git and Python 3.11+ are present on the target machine.

Next steps

• The [Ottili Coder overview](/docs/ottili-coder) — what Coder can do.
• [Installing the Ottili Coder CLI](/docs/cli-installation) — set up the ottili-coder CLI for local runs.
• The [modes](/docs/coder-modes) of Ottili Coder.
• [Local, cloud and hybrid runs](/docs/coder-local-cloud-hybrid-runs).
• [Connect a repository](/docs/connect-a-repository).