Desktop App

Native macOS application built with Tauri v2 for a first-class desktop experience.

Overview

The Ashlr AO desktop app wraps the web dashboard in a native macOS window with additional platform integrations. It uses Tauri v2 for a lightweight, secure native shell.

Download

Download the latest release from GitHub:

Download for macOS

Available formats:

• .dmg — Drag-and-drop installer (recommended)
• .app — Direct application bundle

System Requirements

• macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later
• Python 3.11+ installed and available in your PATH
• tmux installed (brew install tmux)
• At least one AI backend installed (Claude Code, Codex, Aider, or Goose)
• The ashlr-ao Python package must be installed: pip install ashlr-ao

Features

Sidecar Server Management

The desktop app manages the Ashlr AO Python server as a sidecar process:

• Auto-start — The Python server starts automatically when you open the app
• Auto-stop — The server stops cleanly when you quit the app
• Health monitoring — The app monitors the server process and restarts it if it crashes
• Port detection — The app waits for the server to be ready before loading the dashboard

You do not need to run ashlr manually when using the desktop app. The app handles the full lifecycle.

System Tray

Ashlr AO lives in your macOS menu bar with a system tray icon. The tray menu provides:

• Show/Hide Window — Toggle the main dashboard window
• Server Status — Indicator showing whether the Python server is running
• Active Agents — Quick count of currently running agents
• Open Dashboard — Open the dashboard in the native window
• Open in Browser — Open the dashboard in your default web browser
• Quit — Stop the server and exit the app

Native Window

The dashboard runs in a native macOS WebView with full access to:

• All keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+K, Cmd+N, Cmd+Shift+A, etc.)
• Push-to-talk voice input via the Web Speech API
• WebSocket real-time updates
• File browser, git integration, and terminal views
• Theme switching (dark/light)

IDE Features

The desktop app includes the full IDE feature set available in the web dashboard:

• PTY Terminals — Interactive terminal sessions with full ANSI color support
• File Browser — Navigate project files, create, rename, and delete files
• Git Integration — View status, diff, log, branches. Stage, unstage, commit, and discard changes

Configuration

The desktop app uses the same ~/.ashlr/ashlr.yaml configuration file as the CLI. Any changes you make in the dashboard settings are persisted to this file and take effect immediately.

The desktop app adds no additional configuration beyond what the standard Ashlr AO server supports. See the Configuration Reference for all available options.

Desktop App vs. Web Dashboard

Building from Source

To build the desktop app yourself, you need Rust and the Tauri CLI:

# Install Rust (if not already installed)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Install Tauri CLI
cargo install tauri-cli

# Clone the repo and build
git clone https://github.com/ashlrai/ashlr-ao.git
cd ashlr-ao/desktop
cargo tauri build

The built app will be at desktop/target/release/bundle/macos/Ashlr AO.app and the DMG at desktop/target/release/bundle/dmg/Ashlr AO.dmg.

Troubleshooting

Server fails to start

If the app opens but shows a loading screen indefinitely:

1. Verify Python 3.11+ is installed: python3 --version
2. Verify ashlr-ao is installed: pip show ashlr-ao
3. Verify tmux is installed: which tmux
4. Check if port 5111 is already in use: lsof -i :5111
5. Try running ashlr manually in a terminal to see error output

Keyboard shortcuts not working

Some macOS keyboard shortcuts may conflict with system shortcuts. If Cmd+K or other shortcuts do not work, check System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts for conflicts.

Gatekeeper blocking the app

If macOS prevents the app from opening:

# Remove the quarantine attribute
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Ashlr AO.app"