The app

The app is the same Conch as the one-line install, with everything it needs inside: its own copy of Node.js, Conch itself and the web app. It keeps your things in the same place, ~/.conch, so your chats, memories and settings are there whichever way you open it.

Which file

Your computer	The file
A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 …)	Conch-…-mac-arm64.dmg
A Mac with an Intel chip	Conch-…-mac-x64.dmg
Windows	Conch-…-win-x64.exe. Windows on Arm runs it too.
Linux	Conch-…-linux-x64.AppImage (arm64 on Arm), or the .deb on Debian and Ubuntu

On a Mac, open the .dmg and drag Conch into Applications. On Windows, open the .exe: it installs for you alone, with no administrator. On Linux, make the AppImage runnable (right-click it, Properties → Permissions, or chmod +x) and open it, or install the .deb.

If your computer asks first

A computer is careful with apps from the internet.

• macOS may say it can't check Conch for malicious software. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, find the line about Conch near the bottom, and press Open Anyway. It asks once.
• Windows may show Windows protected your PC. Press More info, then Run anyway. It asks once.

Each file on the release page also has a record of the build that made it, from the release's own tag. With the GitHub CLI, gh attestation verify <file> --repo georgevibing/conch-agent checks it.

The window and the menu bar

Closing the window doesn't stop Conch. It keeps running in the menu bar on a Mac, the tray on Windows and the panel on Linux, so your routines run and your phone and chat apps can reach it. Open the app again, or choose Open Conch there, and the window comes back where it was.

Quit Conch in that menu stops it. So does Quit Conch in Settings → Health → Always on.

If Conch is already running on this computer, from the one-line install or a checkout, the app shows that one instead of starting a second. When that one stops, the app starts its own.

Starting when you log in

Turn on Always on in Settings → Health. The app then starts when you log in, with no window, and waits in the menu bar. See Always on.

Updates

The app looks for new releases every hour, and when you come back to it, in the channel you chose in Settings → Health → Updates, and says so quietly. Update Conch downloads the new version, checks it against the release, installs it and opens it again. Your chats are safe.

A Mac app that isn't signed, and the .deb, can't replace themselves. There the button says Download Conch and opens the release page; install the new version over the old one. See Updates.

If it doesn't start

The window says what happened, in a sentence, with Try again. Show what it said opens the app's log, ~/.conch/logs/app.log. Repair everything looks at the rest once Conch is running.

Remove it

• macOS: drag Conch from Applications to the Bin.
• Windows: Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Conch → Uninstall.
• Linux: delete the AppImage, or remove the conch package.

Your things stay in ~/.conch. Delete that folder too if you want them gone.