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). The language picker under the sign-in options sets Foxl's language before you sign in, and your pick stays after.
2. A short setup runs over the app. Pick your look: light, dark or system, and one of nineteen color themes. Tell Foxl about you: your role, and how technical you are, as three cards (full technical detail, concepts without the internals, or plain language). Nothing is required: Continue works with nothing picked, and Skip all or Escape leaves at any time.
3. Set up Foxl Notes (desktop app). One screen, every row optional:
   • On a Mac with Apple Silicon, Run Notes on this Mac (on a Windows PC or a Linux x64 computer, Run Notes on this computer) installs the on-device speech engine and Gemma together, about 6.5 GB (only the part your computer is missing). It shows how much is left, can be paused, and keeps going in the background after you continue. A computer that can already transcribe and summarize shows Ready instead. On other computers the Meeting transcription row offers an AssemblyAI key, or shows Ready when the computer can already transcribe. When the computer already has a Gemini key for chat (in Settings > Model & provider), the row offers Use Gemini instead of a second key to paste.
   • Microphone and Audio from other apps: Allow shows the system prompt, and the row turns Allowed. Windows asks only for the microphone, and Linux records the microphone only.
   • Live translation: off unless you turn it on, with the language to translate into.
4. Bring your setup. Only when Foxl finds a Claude Code or Codex setup on the computer with something Foxl does not have yet: its instructions, skills and MCP servers, with everything new ticked. Import brings over what is ticked (instructions are added to the end of Foxl's AGENTS.md), and nothing Foxl already has is replaced; Continue with nothing ticked brings nothing. The same import is in Settings > Advanced later.
5. Connect a model. On a computer where nothing can answer a chat yet, the last screen helps you connect one: OpenRouter, another provider, or, on a Mac with Apple Silicon, Run AI on this Mac (Run AI on this computer on Windows and Linux; when Run Notes on this Mac already offered that download, this screen does not offer it again; it shows the download's progress once you pressed Install there). A computer that can already chat, with AWS credentials, a Claude Code or ChatGPT sign-in, Ollama or a provider key, does not see this screen. See Get Started.
6. A quick tour points at Schedules, Agents and Chat, in the macOS and Linux app at the green dot in the title bar (it opens a status panel with what is running, the tokens and cost of the chat, and what is left on your plan or credits), and on the desktop app at the Model & provider settings. The first time you open Foxl Notes, a short tour points at its main controls, and the first time you open Settings, another points at a few features that live only there (the Chrome extension, computer use on a Mac, Dictate anywhere and, on a Mac or Windows PC, Keep running when closed), ending on connecting a calendar to Foxl Notes.

On a new install, Foxl does not notify you when a schedule or an agent finishes; it still does when one fails, when a device connects and when something needs your answer. Turn Task Completed on under Schedules or Agent in Settings > Notifications if you want them. A computer that already used Foxl keeps its notifications as they were.

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, which starts setup over for your account when you are signed in: it runs once more, on whichever of your devices you open first. Finishing or skipping setup on one signed-in device completes it on all of them. The phone apps skip this setup and go straight into the app, unless you ask for it there with Show setup again or a reset asks for it; on a phone, the look screen then asks for Light, Dark or System only. On app.foxl.ai, a new account's first sign-in shows the look and about-you screens and the tour; the Notes, Bring your setup and Connect screens are only in the desktop 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.