Install Foxl

Download Foxl from the Download page first. This page walks through installing it.

What you needCopy Anchor Link

• macOS: macOS 13 (Ventura) or later, on an Apple Silicon (M1 or later) or Intel Mac.
• Windows: Windows 10 or later, 64-bit.
• Linux: a 64-bit (x86-64) system with FUSE, which an AppImage needs to run.

You do not need to install anything else. Foxl brings its own server runtime (Bun on macOS and Linux, Node.js on Windows).

Looking for your phone? iOS is on the App Store and Android installs as a direct APK: see Mobile apps.

macOSCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the .dmg file you downloaded.
2. Drag Foxl into your Applications folder.
3. Open Foxl from Applications.
4. The first time, macOS may ask if you are sure. Click Open.

The Mac download is a universal build: it works on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. If you use Homebrew, brew install --cask foxl-ai/tap/foxl installs the same build, and the cask is updated with every release.

WindowsCopy Anchor Link

Installer: run Foxl-latest-setup.exe and follow the steps. It installs Foxl and adds a desktop shortcut. This is the version that updates itself.

Portable: download Foxl-latest-portable.zip, unzip it and run Foxl.exe. Nothing is installed.

If Foxl is already running, it keeps running while you go through the installer, and if you cancel. It closes only when you click Install. When Foxl is installed just for you, the installer asks before closing it. When an older version is installed for all users, and during an automatic update, Foxl is closed without asking.

LinuxCopy Anchor Link

1. Make the file runnable: chmod +x Foxl-latest.AppImage
2. Run it: ./Foxl-latest.AppImage

If it stops with dlopen(): error loading libfuse.so.2, your system is missing FUSE 2, which Ubuntu 22.04 and later no longer install by default. Run sudo apt install libfuse2 (on Ubuntu 24.04 the package is libfuse2t64), then try again.

The first time you open FoxlCopy Anchor Link

1. Sign in with Google, Apple, GitHub or your email (a magic link, or a password if you set one).
2. A short setup runs over the app. Pick light, dark or system, and one of nineteen color themes. You can also say what you do and how technical you like answers. Nothing is required: Continue works with nothing picked, and Skip all or Escape leaves at any time.
3. Connect a model. On a computer where nothing can answer a chat yet, the last screen helps you connect one. See Get Started.
4. A quick tour points at Schedules, Agents and Chat, and on the desktop app at the Model & provider settings.

On Windows the setup also shows Start Foxl when I sign in, turned on, next to Continue. Foxl is added to your sign-in apps only if you leave setup with it on. You can change it later under Settings > General > Launch at login.

Want to see the setup again? Settings > Appearance has Show setup again, and Reset onboarding below it. The phone apps skip this setup and go straight into the app.

Windows and Linux: the tray, the window and the menusCopy Anchor Link

• The tray icon opens the window. On Windows, click or double-click the Foxl icon in the system tray to bring the window back. On Linux a click opens it wherever the desktop allows. On macOS a click on the menu bar icon opens its menu.
• Closing the window. On Windows, closing the window keeps Foxl running, with or without the tray icon (Show in system tray in Settings > General). On Linux it depends on that setting: with the tray icon on, Foxl keeps running (the first time, a notification says so and how to get back); with it off, closing the window quits Foxl.
• The menus follow the app's language, both the menu bar and the tray menu. Right after a fresh install they are in English until the Foxl window has loaded once.
• On Linux the menu bar is hidden until you press Alt. Shortcuts like Ctrl+Q work either way.
• Ctrl+R does not reload the app. View > Reload is still in the menu, without a shortcut, and in the terminal Ctrl+R still goes to the shell. On macOS Cmd+R is unchanged.
• Taskbar pins on Windows. Foxl runs under the same app identity as its Start menu shortcut, which Windows uses for notifications and to group a pinned Foxl with its window. Launch at login uses that identity too, so Foxl does not start twice when you sign in. A pin made from the Foxl window in version 0.7.36 or earlier is moved to that identity shortly after Foxl starts. If you still see two Foxl buttons, unpin Foxl and pin it again.

Light, dark and the windowCopy Anchor Link

Foxl follows your system's light or dark setting. To choose one yourself, open Settings > Appearance; the same page has nineteen color themes and fifteen surfaces (see Appearance). Your choice applies to the desktop app, app.foxl.ai and the phone apps.

On macOS 26 (Tahoe) and later, the window's outer frame is see-through, so your desktop shows behind the sidebar while the content stays solid. Older macOS, Windows and Linux use a normal solid window.

UpdatesCopy Anchor Link

Foxl checks for updates by itself and installs them when you quit the app.

If an update cannot finish (something was still using the app), Foxl tells you on the next launch, in the bell and in Settings, and offers to try again.

Beta updatesCopy Anchor Link

In Settings > General, under Updates, the Beta updates switch gets you beta versions as soon as they come out, a release ahead of everyone else.

• A beta is the same Foxl, signed the same way, on your normal account and data. Only the app is ahead.
• When the matching stable version comes out, you move to it automatically.
• Turning the switch off keeps you on your current version until that stable version arrives. It never moves you backwards.
• Betas are published as prereleases, so with the switch off you are never offered one, and the download links always give the stable version.

Need help?Copy Anchor Link

See Troubleshooting, or ask in our Discord community.