diff --git a/jupyterlab_wakatime/handlers.py b/jupyterlab_wakatime/handlers.py
index 02b2efd..eb284d9 100644
--- a/jupyterlab_wakatime/handlers.py
+++ b/jupyterlab_wakatime/handlers.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from jupyter_server.utils import url_path_join
 import tornado
 
-from .wakatime import USER_AGENT, WAKATIME_CLI
+from .wakatime import USER_AGENT, WAKATIME_CLI, download_cli
 
 
 class BeatData(TypedDict):
@@ -28,8 +28,9 @@ class BeatHandler(APIHandler):
     @tornado.web.authenticated
     async def post(self):
         if not os.path.exists(WAKATIME_CLI):
-            self.log.error("JupyterLab Wakatime plugin failed to find %s", WAKATIME_CLI)
-            return self.finish(json.dumps({"code": 127}))
+            self.finish(json.dumps({"code": 127}))
+            await download_cli(self.log)
+            return
         try:
             data: BeatData = tornado.escape.json_decode(self.request.body)
             cmd_args: list[str] = ["--plugin", USER_AGENT]
@@ -94,8 +95,9 @@ class StatusHandler(APIHandler):
     @tornado.web.authenticated
     async def get(self):
         if not os.path.exists(WAKATIME_CLI):
-            self.log.error("JupyterLab Wakatime plugin failed to find %s", WAKATIME_CLI)
-            return self.finish(json.dumps({"time": ""}))
+            self.finish(json.dumps({"time": ""}))
+            await download_cli(self.log)
+            return
 
         cmd = [WAKATIME_CLI, "--today", "--output=raw-json"]
         if platform.system() == "Windows":
diff --git a/jupyterlab_wakatime/wakatime.py b/jupyterlab_wakatime/wakatime.py
index b2ea03b..0ca9d69 100644
--- a/jupyterlab_wakatime/wakatime.py
+++ b/jupyterlab_wakatime/wakatime.py
@@ -1,29 +1,94 @@
+import sys
 import os
+import shutil
 import platform
+from zipfile import ZipFile
 
+import httpx
 from jupyterlab._version import __version__ as jlab_version
 
-from ._version import __version__ as extension_version
+try:
+    from ._version import __version__ as extension_version
+except ImportError:
+    import warnings
 
+    warnings.warn("Importing 'jupyterlab_wakatime' outside a proper installation.")
+    extension_version = "dev"
 
-def get_os_name():
-    name = platform.system().lower()
-    if (
-        name.startswith("cygwin")
-        or name.startswith("mingw")
-        or name.startswith("msys")
-    ):
-        return "windows"
-    if name == "linux" and "ANDROID_DATA" in os.environ:
-        return "android"
-    return name
 
+def architecture():
+    arch = platform.machine() or platform.processor()
+    if arch == "armv7l":
+        return "arm"
+    if arch == "aarch64":
+        return "arm64"
+    if "arm" in arch:
+        return "arm64" if sys.maxsize > 2**32 else "arm"
+    return "amd64" if sys.maxsize > 2**32 else "386"
 
-USER_AGENT = f"jupyterlab/{jlab_version} jupyterlab-wakatime/{extension_version}"
-HOME_FOLDER = os.path.realpath(
-    os.environ.get("WAKATIME_HOME") or os.path.expanduser("~")
-)
+
+OS_NAME = platform.system().lower()
+for distro in ("cygwin", "mingw", "msys"):
+    if OS_NAME.startswith(distro):
+        OS_NAME = "windows"
+if OS_NAME == "linux" and "ANDROID_DATA" in os.environ:
+    OS_NAME = "android"
+
+ARCH = architecture()
+PLUGIN_NAME = "jupyterlab-wakatime"
+USER_AGENT = f"jupyterlab/{jlab_version} {PLUGIN_NAME}/{extension_version}"
+HOME_FOLDER = os.path.realpath(os.environ.get("WAKATIME_HOME", os.path.expanduser("~")))
 RESOURCES_FOLDER = os.path.join(HOME_FOLDER, ".wakatime")
 WAKATIME_CLI = os.path.join(RESOURCES_FOLDER, "wakatime-cli")
-if get_os_name() == "windows":
+WAKATIME_BINARY = os.path.join(RESOURCES_FOLDER, f"wakatime-cli-{OS_NAME}-{ARCH}")
+if OS_NAME == "windows":
     WAKATIME_CLI += ".exe"
+    WAKATIME_BINARY += ".exe"
+
+GITHUB_RELEASES_STABLE_URL = os.environ.get(
+    "WAKATIME_RELEASES_URL",
+    "https://api.github.com/repos/wakatime/wakatime-cli/releases/latest",
+)
+GITHUB_DOWNLOAD_URL = os.environ.get(
+    "WAKATIME_DOWNLOAD_URL",
+    "https://github.com/wakatime/wakatime-cli/releases/latest/download",
+)
+
+downloading = False
+
+
+async def download_cli(logger):
+    global downloading
+    if downloading:
+        return
+    downloading = True
+    try:
+        if not os.path.exists(RESOURCES_FOLDER):
+            os.makedirs(RESOURCES_FOLDER)
+        if os.path.isdir(WAKATIME_CLI):
+            shutil.rmtree(WAKATIME_CLI)
+        download_url = f"{GITHUB_DOWNLOAD_URL}/wakatime-cli-{OS_NAME}-{ARCH}.zip"
+        zip_file = os.path.join(RESOURCES_FOLDER, "wakatime-cli.zip")
+        logger.info("Downloading WakaTime CLI from %s", download_url)
+
+        client = httpx.AsyncClient()
+        headers = {"User-Agent": f"github.com/wakatime/{PLUGIN_NAME}"}
+        async with client.stream("GET", download_url, headers=headers) as resp:
+            with open(zip_file, "wb") as f:
+                async for chunk in resp.aiter_bytes():
+                    f.write(chunk)
+        with ZipFile(zip_file) as zipf:
+            zipf.extractall(RESOURCES_FOLDER)
+
+        if OS_NAME != "windows":
+            os.chmod(WAKATIME_BINARY, 0x755)
+        if not os.path.islink(WAKATIME_CLI):
+            if os.path.isfile(WAKATIME_CLI):
+                os.remove(WAKATIME_CLI)
+            elif os.path.isdir(WAKATIME_CLI):
+                shutil.rmtree(WAKATIME_CLI)
+            os.link(WAKATIME_BINARY, WAKATIME_CLI)
+            if not os.path.exists(WAKATIME_CLI):
+                shutil.copy2(WAKATIME_BINARY, WAKATIME_CLI)
+    finally:
+        downloading = False