Installation

This guide covers installing Aleph on your system.

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.92+ - Required for building from source (see rust-version in Cargo.toml)
• just - Command runner (cargo install just)
• npm - For building the WASM panel UI
• wasm-bindgen - WASM JS bindings (cargo install wasm-bindgen-cli)
• macOS 14+, Linux, or Windows - Primary supported platforms
• SQLite - Bundled via rusqlite (no separate install needed)

Platform-Specific Requirements

macOS:

• Xcode Command Line Tools
• Swift toolchain (for desktop bridge)

Linux:

• build-essential or equivalent
• pkg-config
• libssl-dev

Windows:

• Visual Studio Build Tools
• windows-sys features handled automatically by Cargo

Installation Methods

Desktop App (Recommended)

The easiest way to run Aleph is the native desktop app. It bundles both the core server and a Tauri shell — no terminal required.

The desktop app:

• Embeds aleph-server as a background daemon
• Hosts the Leptos Panel in a native webview
• Provides system tray, OS notifications, global hotkey (CmdOrCtrl+Shift+A)
• Auto-updates silently via GitHub Releases
• Supports launch-at-login

Using Just (Development)

For development or headless server deployment:

# Verify all build dependencies are installed
just deps

# Run server in development mode (rebuilds WASM)
just dev

# Build release binary
just build

# Run tests
just test

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rootazero/Aleph.git
cd Aleph

# Verify dependencies
just deps

# Run in development mode
just dev

# Or build release binary
just build

The release binary will be at target/release/aleph-server.

Desktop Shell (Development)

# Run the desktop shell in dev mode (rebuilds daemon + shell)
just shell-dev

# Build platform installer (.app/.dmg, .msi, .deb)
just shell-build

Verify Build

# Quick compilation check
just check

# Run core tests
just test

# Check all crates including desktop
just check-desktop

Directory Structure

Aleph creates the following directories at ~/.aleph/:

Next Steps

• Quick Start - Get up and running
• Configuration - Configure your setup