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ChatShell Docs

Getting Started

ChatShell is a free, open-source desktop AI agent built on Tauri 2 and Rust. It ships with 9 built-in tools so your AI can take real actions from the very first conversation — no plugins or configuration required.

System Requirements

Section titled “System Requirements”
  • macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon and Intel)
  • Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
  • Linux (major distributions via AppImage)

Download

Section titled “Download”

Download the latest release from the download page.

PlatformDownload
macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel)ChatShell_0.6.2_universal.dmg
WindowsChatShell_0.6.2_x64_en-US.msi
LinuxChatShell_0.6.2_amd64.AppImage

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

macOS

Section titled “macOS”
  1. Open the downloaded .dmg file
  2. Drag ChatShell to your Applications folder
  3. Open ChatShell from Applications

The macOS build is code-signed and notarized, so it will open without any security warnings.

Windows

Section titled “Windows”
  1. Run the downloaded .msi installer
  2. If Windows SmartScreen shows a blue warning dialog (“Windows protected your PC”), click More info and then Run anyway

This prompt appears because the Windows build is not yet code-signed. The installer is safe — you can verify the download on the download page.

Linux

Section titled “Linux”

For AppImage: make the file executable and run it:

Terminal window
chmod +x ChatShell_*.AppImage
./ChatShell_*.AppImage

First Launch

Section titled “First Launch”

On first launch, ChatShell will ask you to add an AI provider. You’ll need an API key from one of the supported providers.

  1. Open Settings → Providers
  2. Click Add Provider
  3. Select your provider (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini)
  4. Paste your API key
  5. Click Save

Once a provider is configured, you can start a new conversation and your AI will automatically have access to all built-in tools.

Your First Conversation

Section titled “Your First Conversation”

Try asking ChatShell something that requires real-world action:

“Search the web for the top 5 open-source Rust projects on GitHub and summarize what each one does.”

ChatShell will autonomously use the Web Search and Web Fetch tools to gather information and produce a structured answer.

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”