Installing and updating Konjugate

Konjugate runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and there is also a browser version that needs no installation at all. This page covers how to get each of them, what the security warnings you may see on the way mean, and how updates reach you. Which route updates you depends on how you installed, so it is worth choosing with that in mind.

Konjugate is in public beta. It is not code-signed yet, a deliberate choice while the project is in beta and not an oversight. So your operating system may warn you the first time you open a downloaded copy. That warning is about the absence of a signature. It does not mean the download is damaged or has been tampered with.

Trying it without installing

Konjugate Web runs in a browser tab and is the quickest way to look around: open an example, run it, change something. It is a trial ground and not a replacement, and it does not do everything the desktop app does, so the desktop version is the one to settle on for real work. It lives at web.konjugate.com, and there is a link to it on the Konjugate home page.

macOS

The recommended way is Homebrew. One command puts Konjugate in your Applications folder and checks the download against its published checksum:

brew install --cask zenineasa/konjugate/konjugate

It opens without a warning, because Homebrew clears macOS's quarantine flag for you. That also means macOS has not itself checked the app, so install it only if you trust the project.

You can instead download the disk image from the releases page on GitHub. If macOS then says "Konjugate.app is damaged and can't be opened", move it to Applications first, then run this in Terminal:

xattr -cr /Applications/Konjugate.app

or open System Settings, go to Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway.

Windows

The simplest route is the Microsoft Store. The Store signs the app, so there is no security warning. Updates arrive through the Store, usually a few days after a release, since each version goes through the Store's own review first.

If you download the installer from the releases page instead and Windows shows a blue "Windows protected your PC" warning, click More info, then Run anyway. Chocolatey is supported as well. Each new version appears there only after Chocolatey's own review, so it can run days behind a release.

Linux

Linux gets an AppImage, a single file you make executable once with chmod +x and then run. Where a tool such as AppImageUpdate, Gear Lever or AppImageLauncher is installed, it can update the file in place, downloading only what changed. Homebrew on Linux can install it with the same cask command as on macOS.

How updates reach you

Konjugate checks for a newer release each time it starts, and again when you return to a window after a day. If one exists and has an installer for your platform, a small dot appears on the Konjugate button in the title bar. It never downloads or installs anything, and it never interrupts you with a dialog.

The button opens the Welcome window, and its top section says what is available and what to do about it.

What it offers depends on how you installed:

Installed from	How it updates	What the notice shows
Microsoft Store	The Store, automatically	Nothing to do. It says updates are delivered by the Store.
Homebrew	brew upgrade --cask konjugate	The command, with a Copy Command button
AppImage	Download the new file, or update in place	The update command for that file, with a Copy Command button
Windows installer or macOS disk image	Download the new one and install over the old	A Download button
Chocolatey	choco upgrade konjugate	A Download button, with a hint about Chocolatey

Two details follow from that table. An update shows up in the app the moment the release exists on GitHub, which can be before the Store or Chocolatey has the new version, so a Store user is told not to act and a Chocolatey user is offered the plain download as the main choice. And Konjugate can tell a Homebrew install from a manual one, so Homebrew users are never sent to a download that would leave Homebrew believing the old version is installed.

Skip this version hides the dot until a newer release exists. There is no "remind me later", because the dot is quiet enough that there is nothing to be reminded of. A failed automatic check, from being offline for instance, says nothing, and a failed check you ask for yourself says so. The only thing stored about you is which version you skipped, and the only request sent is the same one to GitHub for the latest release.

Add-ons are separate

Updating Konjugate does not update its add-ons, and the reverse. Add-ons and plugins update through the Extensions dialog, which has its own badge and its own Update all, as "Installing add-ons and plugins" describes. An add-on can also say which Konjugate version it needs, and the Extensions dialog will not offer an update that your copy cannot run.

Where to go from here

With Konjugate installed, "Getting started with Konjugate" builds a first model in about five minutes.