Installation

Installation

Genie 5 is in alpha. Pre-built downloads aren't published yet, so installation currently means building from source — which is a two-command process once you have the .NET 8 SDK. This page covers all three platforms, plus what to expect from the eventual pre-built artifacts.

Coming from Genie 4? Install fresh first, then jump to Importing Genie 4 Config to bring your aliases, triggers, highlights, etc. across.

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK — Windows, macOS, and Linux builds are all supported by Microsoft.
• Git to clone the repository.

Build and run (all platforms)

git clone https://github.com/GenieClient/Genie5.git
cd Genie5
dotnet run --project src/Genie.App

That's it — Avalonia is a tier-1 cross-platform UI toolkit, so the same command launches the GUI on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

For a faster-starting build you can compile in Release first:

dotnet build -c Release
dotnet run -c Release --project src/Genie.App

Producing a standalone executable

To get a single self-contained file you can copy and double-click (no .NET install needed on the target), publish for your platform's runtime identifier:

# Windows x64
dotnet publish src/Genie.App -c Release -r win-x64   -o publish/win-x64
# macOS Apple Silicon
dotnet publish src/Genie.App -c Release -r osx-arm64 -o publish/osx-arm64
# macOS Intel
dotnet publish src/Genie.App -c Release -r osx-x64   -o publish/osx-x64
# Linux x64
dotnet publish src/Genie.App -c Release -r linux-x64 -o publish/linux-x64

The output is a single Genie / Genie.exe. See docs/build-and-release.md for the full publish detail and platform packaging notes.

Platform first-launch notes

Because alpha builds aren't code-signed, your OS may warn the first time you run a published executable:

macOS — Gatekeeper

A published osx-* build is ad-hoc signed at most, so macOS may refuse the first launch ("developer cannot be verified") or report the app as "damaged":

• First launch: in Finder, right-click the app → Open → Open. macOS remembers the choice.
• "Damaged" error: a browser download set a quarantine attribute. Strip it:

  xattr -cr /path/to/Genie.app

(Running via dotnet run from source sidesteps Gatekeeper entirely.)

Windows — SmartScreen

Running an unsigned .exe shows a blue "Windows protected your PC" panel: click More info → Run anyway. SmartScreen remembers it for that exact file.

Linux

dotnet run works out of the box. A published linux-x64 binary runs directly; mark it executable if needed (chmod +x Genie).

First launch

On first run Genie 5 creates its per-user data folder (~/Library/Application Support/Genie5 on macOS, %APPDATA%\Genie5 on Windows, ~/.local/share/Genie5 on Linux) with Config/, Scripts/, Maps/, and Logs/ subfolders. See Application Folders for the full layout.

Pre-built artifacts (planned)

Once the release pipeline lands, look for Genie5-…-{win-x64, osx-arm64, osx-x64, linux-x64} archives on the Releases page. Until then, build from source as above.

After installation

• Application Folders — where your data lives on disk.
• Importing Genie 4 Config — migrate from Genie 4.
• Updating Maps and Scripts — get the latest community maps.