Installation and Requirements

Installation and requirements

Choose a packaged testing build to try the desktop, or source setup to change PlayWeld. Organizing Project files and lexical search do not require a model account.

Packaged Windows and Linux builds

1. Open Releases, select a published testing prerelease and read its notes.
2. Download the matching Windows x64 installer or supplied Linux AppImage/DEB. Retain the manifest and checksum file.
3. Compare the downloaded SHA-256 with its release checksum entry. Substitute your actual path:

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 -LiteralPath 'C:\Downloads\PlayWeld-version-x64.exe'

On Linux use sha256sum on the downloaded file. A matching checksum checks agreement with that digest; it does not authenticate the publisher.

The public 0.21.0 executable and metadata are unsigned. Testing prereleases are downloaded manually and excluded from stable automatic updates. The recorded Windows 0.20.0-to-0.21.0 upgrade does not establish full uninstall/rollback or every Linux installation scenario. Do not treat an unsigned package as signed. Follow the release guide and selected release's evidence.

Install and reach the workspace

On Windows, run the downloaded installer, review its destination/prompts and launch PlayWeld from the installed application entry. On Linux, install the downloaded DEB with your distribution's package manager, or grant the downloaded AppImage executable permission and run that file. Use the package matching your host and read its release notes; these instructions do not certify every distribution or installation scenario.

Wait for Connected to platform service in Project Home, then follow your first Project. If the service is unavailable, use troubleshooting before creating work. Merely opening the window is not the connection check.

Source prerequisites

Use Git, Node 24 or later and npm 11 with the lockfile. Linux native builds need libx11-dev, libxkbfile-dev and libsecret-1-dev; isolation tests need a supported Bubblewrap environment. Windows builds need C++/Python native-module prerequisites; follow the developer environment and actual compiler errors/Spectre-library guidance.

Keep Windows and Linux dependency trees separate. Engines, DCC applications, licenses, endpoints and model weights are separate installations. Packaged desktop use does not require the source toolchain.

Next: first Project or source development.