Install the desktop app

When to read this. You downloaded a condash-<platform> binary (or an .msi / .dmg / .AppImage once those bundlers land) from the GitHub Releases page and the operating system is refusing to run it.

The Tauri builds of condash are unsigned on purpose. Signing Windows and macOS binaries costs $180–400/year between code-signing certs and the Apple Developer Program, and condash has exactly one user. See notes/packaging.md in the project repo for the full reasoning.

The upshot: each OS will ask you to confirm once that you trust the download. This page walks through the gesture per platform.

Linux — AppImage or raw binary

Nothing to bypass. Linux trusts you.

chmod +x condash-serve-linux-x86_64
./condash-serve-linux-x86_64

or, once the AppImage bundler lands:

chmod +x condash-<version>.AppImage
./condash-<version>.AppImage

If the window doesn't appear, check the stderr log — a missing CONDASH_CONCEPTION_PATH or webkit runtime usually shows up there.

Windows — SmartScreen bypass

1. Download the .msi (or the condash-serve-windows-x86_64.exe binary) from the release page.
2. Double-click it. Windows dims the screen and shows a blue banner:

Windows protected your PC

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting.

1. Click the small More info link under the banner. A Run anyway button appears at the bottom.
2. Click Run anyway. The installer / binary launches normally.

You only have to do this on first launch. Windows remembers the per-file decision afterwards, but a new release (different bytes) triggers the same dialog again — this is expected without a code-signing cert.

macOS — Gatekeeper bypass

macOS keeps tightening Gatekeeper. The steps depend on your version.

macOS 14 (Sonoma) and earlier

1. Download the .dmg and drag condash.app to /Applications as usual.
2. Open Finder, navigate to /Applications, find condash.app.
3. Control-click (or right-click) the app icon → Open.
4. macOS shows: "condash can't be opened because the developer cannot be verified. Are you sure you want to open it?"
5. Click Open. The app launches and the approval is remembered.

macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later

Apple removed the right-click bypass in Sequoia. The new path:

1. Double-click the app. macOS refuses with: "condash cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified" (or similar).
2. Dismiss the dialog.
3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
4. Scroll to the bottom. You'll see a banner like: "condash was blocked from use because it is not from an identified developer."
5. Click Open Anyway. Authenticate with your login password when prompted.
6. Relaunch the app. It opens normally, and the approval is remembered.

If the app still won't open

macOS sometimes flags the downloaded .dmg as "damaged" instead of prompting. This is a quarantine attribute issue. Clear it from Terminal:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/condash.app

…then try again. You may still need to click Open Anyway the first time.

Why no auto-update?

Tauri can ship in-app updates, but unsigned apps on macOS hit a quarantine bug: when the updater replaces the app bundle, macOS re-flags the new files and the relaunched binary silently fails. To avoid the failure mode where updates half-break the install, the auto-updater is disabled for this build.

Instead:

• The dashboard footer links to the GitHub Releases page.
• Bumping versions = download the new artifact, drop it over the old one, redo the bypass gesture once.

If condash ever ships to more than one user, notes/packaging.md lays out the re-enable path: $99/year Apple Developer enrolment, Developer ID signing cert, notarization in the release workflow, then flipping bundle.updater.active back on.