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The StacyVM desktop app packages the web dashboard and runs the StacyVM API daemon in-process — one window, no separate stacyvm serve needed. It is a Wails application and is distributed as a native installer for each operating system.
The desktop app bundles the UI and the API, but it still needs a sandbox provider on the host to actually run sandboxes. Install and start Docker (the default provider) before spawning anything. See Prerequisites.
This is a separate download from the CLI installer (npx stacyvm-setup). The CLI builds StacyVM from source; the desktop app is a prebuilt, double-click application.

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Download

Grab the latest installer for your OS from the Releases page:
OSDownloadNotes
WindowsStacyVM-amd64-installer.exeNSIS installer; bootstraps the WebView2 runtime if missing.
macOSStacyVM-macos-universal.dmgUniversal — runs on Apple Silicon and Intel.
LinuxStacyVM-x86_64.AppImageSelf-contained; no system libraries required.
Linux (alt)StacyVM-linux-amd64.tar.gzBare binary; requires libwebkit2gtk-4.1 on the host.

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Install & run

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Windows

  1. Run StacyVM-amd64-installer.exe.
  2. If SmartScreen warns that the publisher is unrecognized, click More info → Run anyway (the app is not yet code-signed).
  3. Launch StacyVM from the Start menu.

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macOS

  1. Open StacyVM-macos-universal.dmg and drag StacyVM into Applications.
  2. On first launch, because the app is not yet notarized, macOS may say it is from an “unidentified developer.” Right-click (Control-click) the app → Open → Open. Alternatively, clear the quarantine flag: 
    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/StacyVM.app

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Linux

AppImage (recommended): 
chmod +x StacyVM-x86_64.AppImage
./StacyVM-x86_64.AppImage
Tarball: extract and run the binary. It dynamically links the host’s WebKitGTK, so install it first if missing: 
# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0
tar -xzf StacyVM-linux-amd64.tar.gz
./StacyVM
When the window opens, the embedded API daemon starts automatically and the dashboard loads. With Docker running, you can spawn, exec into, and destroy sandboxes directly from the UI.

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Build from source

Requires the Wails CLI, Go, and Node.js. On Linux you also need libgtk-3-dev and libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev. 
make build-desktop
The frontend is installed and built automatically (via the frontend:install/frontend:build steps in desktop/wails.json), then Wails compiles the app. Output: desktop/build/bin/StacyVM (.app on macOS, .exe on Windows). The make target auto-applies the Linux-only -tags webkit2_41 build tag; on macOS/Windows it builds without it.