Helm is a fast, native desktop app for working with local coding agents. It is built in Rust with GPUI and keeps projects, sessions, transcripts on your machine.
On macOS, download the signed .dmg. It updates itself.
On Linux:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vverma022/helm/main/website/public/install.sh | shThe script installs into ~/.local without root. See
docs/linux.md for requirements, manual installation, and
uninstalling.
On Windows, run Helm-<version>-<arch>-Setup.exe from the
latest release. It installs
per-user and updates itself. A portable .zip is published alongside it. See
docs/windows.md for requirements and what is not available
there yet.
Helm works with:
Install and authenticate at least one supported agent CLI before starting Helm. Helm detects available CLIs automatically and uses each provider's native structured protocol and session continuity.
- Keep projects and independent agent sessions in one native app.
- Switch models, reasoning effort, and access modes from a shared interface.
- Queue or steer follow-up messages while an agent is working.
- Rewind Git-backed tasks with conversation-aware checkpoints.
- Store app state locally, with no Helm account or remote service required.
The native desktop is an RPC client of the standalone helm-daemon process.
Provider sessions run in helm-core, behind the
authenticated, versioned WebSocket contract in
helm-protocol. Helm Desktop depends on
helm-client, not on the daemon implementation. The
daemon owns task SQLite data, uploaded attachments, provider-native session
forks, and all workspace filesystem and Git operations; paths returned by it
always refer to the daemon host. The desktop retains only presentation state
and a disposable preview cache.
The browser client lives at apps/web and uses the generated
browser transport in packages/helm-client. Its
checked-in types are generated directly from the Rust protocol, while its
WebSocket client implements the same handshake, request IDs, subscriptions,
sequence deduplication, and replay cursors as the Rust client. Run
bun run protocol:generate after changing a wire type and
bun run protocol:check to verify that generated files are current.
Projectless task workspaces live on the daemon host under
~/.helm/projects/<date>/<slug>. The daemon moves workspaces created by the
older ~/.helm/<date>/<slug> layout on first load.
Configuration ownership is separate too: the Release desktop writes
~/.helm/app.json, while Debug stays isolated at temp/app.json. Daemon
provider and Computer Use settings live in ~/.helm/settings.json. The
desktop's Settings → Daemon page can explicitly
expose the child daemon on a fixed port, configure exact browser origins, and
copy its stable authentication token. It remains loopback-only by default.
When connected to a daemon managed outside the desktop process, Helm never interprets daemon paths on the client machine. The local folder picker and PTY are therefore unavailable until the protocol gains daemon-host picker and terminal-stream endpoints; files, diffs, Git, skills, usage, task state, and attachments already use daemon RPC.
Release apps bundle and sign helm-daemon. Development keeps the daemon at
target/debug/helm-debug-daemon, allowing provider-only edits to rebuild and
replace the daemon without relaunching Helm Debug.
Development is supported on macOS, Linux, and Windows and requires Rust 1.96 or newer and Bun. Linux supports both Wayland and X11, and Windows needs the MSVC toolchain; install the native build prerequisites listed in CONTRIBUTING.md first.
bun install
bun run devThe embedded browser and experimental computer-use integration currently remain macOS-only. Agent sessions, projects, transcripts, skills, usage, diffs, file editing, and the terminal run natively on Linux and Windows.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for the development workflow and checks. Release maintainers should also read RELEASING.md.
You can support the project development via GitHub Sponsors.
Helm is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only.