Installation

Installation

SnipVault can be installed as a native desktop app, or run as a web app. For most people, the desktop app is the way to go.

Desktop app (recommended)

Download the installer for your platform from the Releases page.

Platform	File	Notes
Windows	SnipVault_<version>_x64-setup.exe	Wizard-style installer (NSIS)
Windows	SnipVault_<version>_x64_en-US.msi	MSI — good for managed/enterprise deployment
macOS (Apple Silicon)	SnipVault_<version>_aarch64.dmg	M1/M2/M3 Macs
macOS (Intel)	SnipVault_<version>_x64.dmg	Intel Macs
Linux	.deb / .AppImage / .rpm	Built via self-hosted CI (see Continuous Integration)

⚠️ Unsigned builds — first-launch warnings

The published binaries are not code-signed, so your OS will warn you the first time you open the app. This is expected; the app is safe to run.

• Windows — SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC / unknown publisher." Click More info → Run anyway.

• macOS — Gatekeeper blocks the app on first launch. Because the build is only ad-hoc signed (not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID), macOS shows either "SnipVault can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software" or — on Apple Silicon especially — the harsher "SnipVault is damaged and can't be opened." The app is not actually damaged. To open it:

  1. Open the .dmg and drag SnipVault.app into your Applications folder.
  2. Open Terminal and run:

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

  3. Launch SnipVault from Applications as normal.

  You only need to do this once per install. Note: right-click → Open only bypasses the milder "cannot be checked" dialog — it does not clear the "damaged" message, so the Terminal step above is the reliable fix for both.

Signing requires paid certificates (Apple Developer Program; a Windows OV/EV certificate). See Continuous Integration for where signing would slot into the pipeline.

First launch

The first time you open the desktop app, it asks where to keep your data — create a new database or use an existing snippets.db. See User Guide for details. (Upgrading from an earlier version? Your existing database is picked up automatically.)

Staying up to date

From v1.4.0 onward the desktop app updates itself — it checks GitHub on startup and can install new versions in place (your database is left untouched). So you generally only download an installer from the Releases page once. See Updating the app in the User Guide. (Linux .deb/.rpm update via your package manager; the AppImage self-updates.)

Web app

Run SnipVault as a local Next.js server instead of installing it. This requires Node.js 22+ and pnpm:

pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm start

Then open http://localhost:3000. Data is stored in ./data/snippets.db.

For development mode with hot reload, see Development Setup.

Sync server (self-hosting) (v2.2.0)

To share one library across several computers, you can run SnipVault as a small server on your network and point each desktop app at it. The same web app doubles as the sync server (there's a ready-made Dockerfile / docker-compose.yml, and a prebuilt image on GHCR). Setup and the desktop connection steps are in Syncing.

Where is my data?

Your snippets never leave your machine. See Data Storage for exact locations per platform and how to back them up.