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Installation Guide

Front Porch AI runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. This page covers installing the app, plus build-from-source instructions for developers.

If you're wondering whether your computer can handle it, see What You Need to Run It in the Getting Started guide — the short answer is that most machines from the last several years are fine, and a graphics card is helpful but optional.

Windows

  1. Download the latest .exe installer from the Releases page.
  2. Run it and follow the prompts.
  3. Launch Front Porch AI from the Start menu.

Beta builds also come as standalone .zip files — just extract and run, no installer needed.

macOS

  1. Download the .pkg installer from the Releases page — it's the recommended way to install on a Mac.
  2. Double-click it and follow the installer. It places Front Porch AI in your Applications folder for you.
  3. Launch it from Applications.

Tip: Front Porch AI is code-signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without Gatekeeper warnings, "damaged app" scares, or right-click workarounds — on the first launch and every launch. Very few apps in this space go through notarization; we do it for every release.

The app is built natively for Apple Silicon (M1 and newer), where it runs local AI models beautifully. It also runs on Intel Macs, but those can't handle local models — the app will guide you into remote-API mode instead.

Linux — Package Managers (Recommended)

Installing through a package repository means updates arrive with your normal system updates (apt upgrade, dnf upgrade, yay -Syu).

Debian / Ubuntu / Mint / Pop!_OS

The quick way:

curl -fsSL https://apt.frontporchai.app/install.sh | bash
sudo apt install front-porch-ai

Or set the repository up by hand:

curl -fsSL https://apt.frontporchai.app/front-porch-ai.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/front-porch-ai.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/front-porch-ai.gpg] https://apt.frontporchai.app stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/front-porch-ai.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install front-porch-ai

Fedora / RHEL / openSUSE

sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.frontporchai.app/front-porch-ai.repo
sudo dnf install front-porch-ai

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S front-porch-ai-bin        # stable (recommended)
yay -S front-porch-ai-beta-bin   # beta / early access

Linux — AppImage and Manual Packages

Prefer no repository? The Releases page has:

  • .AppImage — download, make it executable (chmod +x Front_Porch_AI.AppImage), and run. All dependencies are bundled, including the web engine used for the built-in character browser.
  • .deb and .rpm packages for direct installation.

Beta and Nightly Builds

Two ways to get new features early:

  • Beta builds — preview releases cut while a new version is being stabilized.
  • Nightly builds — fresh builds of the newest development work, published most days. This is where brand-new features (like The Stoop community hub) appear first.

Both are completely isolated from your stable install: they keep their data in a separate FrontPorchAI-Beta folder and separate settings, so they will never touch your main characters and chats. You can run them side by side with the stable app.

Expect occasional rough edges — that's the deal with early builds. Bug reports on Discord are always welcome.

After Installing

There's no manual setup. On first launch the app:

  1. Downloads its AI engine (KoboldCpp) automatically, matched to your hardware.
  2. Detects your graphics card and memory, and picks sensible defaults.
  3. Drops you on the home screen, ready to add characters and models.

From there, open Manage Models in the sidebar to download your first AI model — see Getting Started for advice on picking one.

Voice features (text-to-speech and voice input) are bundled with official builds — nothing extra to install.

Common Install Problems

  • AMD graphics on Linux: if the app can't see your GPU, make sure your user account is in the render and video groups, then log out and back in.
  • UI flicker on Linux (Wayland): try launching with GDK_BACKEND=x11.
  • Anything else: the Troubleshooting guide covers a lot more, and Discord is there for the rest.

For Developers: Building from Source

Everything below is for people who want to hack on the app. Regular users can stop reading here. 🙂

Prerequisites

That's the whole list — every AI engine (voice, speech-to-text, character expressions, memory embeddings) runs in-process via libraries that ship with the app's packages. No Rust, no Python, no helper programs.

Linux build dependencies

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev liblzma-dev libsecret-1-dev libunwind-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev

Fedora:

sudo dnf install clang cmake ninja-build pkgconf-pkg-config gtk3-devel xz-devel libsecret-devel gstreamer1-devel gstreamer1-plugins-base-devel libstdc++-devel

Arch:

sudo pacman -S clang cmake ninja pkgconf gtk3 xz libsecret gstreamer gst-plugins-base

Clone and run

git clone https://github.com/linux4life1/front-porch-AI.git
cd front-porch-AI
flutter pub get
flutter run

Release builds

flutter build windows   # or: flutter build linux, flutter build macos

That's it — the built bundle is self-contained.

Questions? Join the Discord — I'm happy to help.

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