Install

Install

One line installs ttyak, or your package manager does. (0.10.0 and older: only the zips on the releases page.) What your terminal and system need is on Requirements.

The install script

Linux and macOS:

curl -fsSL https://ttyak.sh/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://ttyak.sh/install.ps1 | iex

The script takes the latest release's zip for your system, checks it against the release's SHA256SUMS and puts ttyak in ~/.local/bin (Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ttyak). When that folder is not on your PATH yet, it puts it there: a marked line in your shell's startup file (sh, dash, ksh, bash, zsh, fish; for csh, nushell, elvish, xonsh and other shells it prints the line to add instead) or, on Windows, an entry in your user PATH. Open a new terminal afterwards. Then ttyak auth login, or plain ttyak, signs you in: see Signing in.

Run it as yourself: it needs no sudo, and under sudo it stops unless you give it a folder with --dir.

--help (-Help) lists its flags: another version (--version X.Y.Z), another folder (--dir PATH), PATH left alone (--no-modify-path), no questions (--yes). Through the pipe they go like this:

curl -fsSL https://ttyak.sh/install.sh | sh -s -- --version 0.12.0 --dir ~/bin

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://ttyak.sh/install.ps1))) -Version 0.12.0 -Dir C:\tools\ttyak

The environment variables TTYAK_VERSION, TTYAK_DIR, TTYAK_NO_MODIFY_PATH=1, TTYAK_YES=1, and for uninstalling TTYAK_UNINSTALL=1 and TTYAK_KEEP_DATA=1, do the same (the flags win). Running the script again over an installed copy updates it in place.

The macOS builds are signed and notarized by Apple. ttyak.exe is not code-signed yet (a later release will be), so SmartScreen may warn the first time you run it: More info → Run anyway.

Package managers

Package manager
Homebrew (macOS, Linux)	brew install dmytrobsp/ttyak/ttyak
Scoop	scoop bucket add ttyak https://github.com/dmytrobsp/scoop-ttyak, then scoop install ttyak
winget	winget install dmytrobsp.ttyak
Chocolatey	choco install ttyak
Debian, Ubuntu	the release's .deb: sudo apt install ./ttyak_<version>_amd64.deb (arm: _arm64.deb)
Fedora, RHEL	the release's .rpm: sudo dnf install ./ttyak-<version>-1.x86_64.rpm (arm: .aarch64.rpm)
Arch	not in the AUR yet (its sign-up is closed for now): unzip the release's ttyak-<version>-recipes.zip and run makepkg -si in its aur folder

winget and Chocolatey review each new version before they list it: a version shows up there a few days after the release. winget has not listed ttyak yet (its first version is waiting for review); until it does, winget install dmytrobsp.ttyak finds nothing, so use the install script or Scoop.

Homebrew on Linux uses the system's ALSA library: libasound2 (libasound2t64 on Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13 and later) on Debian/Ubuntu, alsa-lib on Fedora/Arch. Homebrew's own alsa-lib is only a fallback for systems without one, and it needs glibc 2.38 or newer.

By hand

Each release has one zip per system with ttyak (ttyak.exe) and the two licences (0.12.1 and older: the README too) at its top. Unzip it and put ttyak somewhere on your PATH. To check a download yourself, see Verifying downloads. (Releases before 0.11.0 are not signed: on macOS run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ttyak once, or allow it in System Settings → Privacy & Security.)

Download	Runs on	Needs
x86_64-linux.zip	glibc 2.34 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 35, RHEL 9 and later)	libasound.so.2 (ALSA), libstdc++ — on every desktop Linux
aarch64-linux.zip	64-bit Arm Linux with glibc 2.34 or newer (as above; Raspberry Pi OS 12)	as above
aarch64-macos.zip	Apple Silicon Macs, macOS 11 or newer	nothing (system frameworks only)
x86_64-macos.zip	Intel Macs, macOS 11 or newer	as above
x86_64-windows.zip	64-bit Windows 10 / 11	nothing (Windows system DLLs only, no MinGW runtime)

The Intel Mac build is made and signed the same way as the Apple Silicon one, but it has not been run on an Intel Mac yet.

Optional everywhere: ffmpeg / ffprobe on PATH for video, cameras and screen sharing; a terminal with graphics for real pictures (see Requirements). To build it yourself instead, see Building from source.

Update

ttyak says once when a new version is out (a desktop notification when they are on, and ⬆ <version> in the status line: see Updates), and F6 → Updates shows how this copy was installed and what to run to update it (its "To update it" row; Enter copies it):

• the install script: while a newer version is known, F6 → Updates has an Update row that opens the update screen; Update now there downloads the new version, checks it against the release's SHA256SUMS and puts it in place (start ttyak again: it never restarts by itself). Or run the one-liner again. A copy in a folder ttyak cannot write shows the one-liner for that folder instead.
• brew upgrade dmytrobsp/ttyak/ttyak · scoop update ttyak · winget upgrade dmytrobsp.ttyak · choco upgrade ttyak (winget and Chocolatey list a new version a few days after the release)
• .deb, .rpm: install the new release's package as above; Arch: makepkg -si with the new release's recipes zip (F6 → Updates shows the release page to download from)
• by hand: the new zip's ttyak over the old one

Uninstall

• the install script: ttyak uninstall removes the program, its install.json and what put its folder on PATH (the marked line in your shell's startup file; on Windows the user PATH entry), and asks whether to keep your settings, sign-ins and drafts. For scripts: ttyak uninstall --yes deletes the data too, ttyak uninstall --yes --keep-data keeps it. A startup file that is a link, or lies in a linked folder, or is not writable, is left alone: ttyak shows the lines to remove by hand. The install script's --uninstall (-Uninstall) runs the same command, with --keep-data (-KeepData) to keep your data.
• brew uninstall ttyak · winget uninstall dmytrobsp.ttyak · sudo apt remove ttyak · sudo dnf remove ttyak · Arch: sudo pacman -Rns ttyak-bin — these leave your ttyak data (settings, sign-ins, drafts, caches) in your home folder: run ttyak purge first to delete it
• scoop uninstall ttyak and choco uninstall ttyak delete your ttyak data too, as ttyak purge does (an update keeps it)
• by hand: ttyak purge (if you want your data gone), then delete ttyak

ttyak purge lists what it will delete and asks first (--yes for scripts), and refuses while a ttyak runs. Files you saved from messages stay, and Slack is not signed out. What it deletes, folder by folder, is on Profiles and sessions.

If it doesn't work

• winget finds nothing
• Windows: SmartScreen warns about ttyak.exe
• Windows: the first keys after start are lost
• An update says it cannot write the folder
• No update notice
• everything else: Troubleshooting