Install and first run

Requirements

• macOS for the desktop app, or Windows 10 or later, 64-bit for the early Windows installer (what early means). The server and Laika Orbit recall also run on Linux.
• Node 22.18 or newer and pnpm 10. With mise, mise install sets up both.
• A Claude account for chats (you can try the panel with an offline demo agent first).
• Optional: brew install poppler so PDFs are indexed (pdftotext).

First run: pick a repo to open, or pick up a Claude session where you left it.

Install

Laika Orbit is free either way: build it from source below, or download a build from the releases page — the signed, notarised Mac disk image, or the Windows x64 installer. From 1.0.3 the Mac build checks for new versions and can update itself; the Windows one cannot yet, so a new version there means downloading it again. Orbit Pro, the paid membership on top, isn’t on sale yet; join the waitlist to hear when it opens.

On Windows

The installer runs, carries its own Node, and serves the real UI; a chat’s terminal is PowerShell. It is early, and three things are worth knowing before you rely on it:

• It is not code-signed, so SmartScreen stops it the first time: More info, then Run anyway. The checksum beside the download stands in for the signature until there is one.
• Secrets are not kept in a keychain on Windows as they are on macOS, so anything that needs a stored credential is not safe to rely on there yet. This is the gap that matters most.
• Only the x64 build exists — no arm64 — and no automated check runs on Windows: it is built and exercised by hand, on one machine.

It installs for you alone, without an administrator, and lets you choose the folder. Your data lives in %APPDATA%\Laika Orbit\, never inside the install folder.

git clone https://github.com/Laika-Dynamics-Ltd/laika-orbit.git
cd laika-orbit
mise install      # or use your own Node 22.18+ and pnpm 10
pnpm install

Run it

pnpm shell                              # the desktop app, with real browser tabs

Or in a browser tab, without the native browser:

cd packages/app && node server.mjs      # http://localhost:5200

To install it as a Mac app in /Applications with a Dock icon:

pnpm shell:app

The app still runs from your checkout, so git pull updates it; relaunch to pick up changes.

First run

1. The map shows this repo only. Nothing outside the checkout is read until you add a folder: press i and add sources (notes, projects, documents). See Knowledge map.
2. The Claude panel lists your repos from ~/dev. Keep code somewhere else? Start the server with DEV_ROOTS, colon-separated: DEV_ROOTS="$HOME/code:$HOME/work" pnpm shell.
3. Connect a Claude account from the panel. Until then, chats run an offline demo agent.
4. Optional feeds: copy .env.example to .env.local to set up the calendar and inbox widgets. See Widgets.

Updating

git pull && pnpm install

Your settings live in gitignored files (*.local.json, .env.local, and the settings the app writes), so updates never conflict with them.