# Install and set up WireCat Desktop (/en/docs/desktop)

WireCat Desktop is an app for people who want their AI agent to work with their messages, meetings,
documents and notes, but do not want to install and maintain command-line tools by hand. It shows which
WireCat tools exist and which are on your computer, installs the ones you choose, gives your AI agents
the instructions to use them and opens each tool's sign-in. This page explains what the app does and how
to start. The app is optional: every tool still installs and works from a terminal without it.

## Download and install [#download-and-install]

[Download WireCat Desktop](/en/download) for macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows (64-bit) or Linux
(AppImage, .deb or .rpm). The download page picks the file for your computer. The app is not yet signed
with an Apple or Microsoft developer certificate, so the first start needs one confirmation; the
[first-start steps](/en/download#first-launch) show where to click.

The app itself needs nothing else. The tools run on Node.js (The program that runs tools such as tg, max and memo on your computer. Your agent can check whether it is installed and help set it up.)
22.16 or later within 22.x, or 24 or later, with npm. If Node.js is missing, too old, or npm needs
administrator rights to install, the app offers to set up its own copy of Node.js in your user folder.
It does not need administrator rights for that, and your existing Node.js stays as it is.

## The first start [#the-first-start]

The first start walks you through these steps on one screen:

1. **Your computer:** the app checks the system, Node.js and npm.
2. **Choose tools:** pick the services your agent should reach: Telegram, MAX, WhatsApp, Zoom,
   Google Drive, Memo or Email. You can add or remove tools later.
3. **Install:** each tool is installed from npm and checked that it starts.
4. **Connect agents:** the app gives each AI agent it finds the tool's skill (An instruction file that teaches your agent how to use tg or max. It contains command guidance, not your login details. Installation may already have added it; you can check with tg skill show or max skill show.):
   a short guide to the tool's commands. It knows where Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode,
   Hermes Agent and OpenClaw read skills.
5. **Sign in:** each tool connects to your account with its own sign-in. Telegram, MAX and WhatsApp
   show their QR code or ask for a code in the app's window; Zoom and Google Drive open your browser.
6. **Done:** the app shows what is installed. The question mark at the top has a short tour of the window.

## What you can do in the app [#what-you-can-do-in-the-app]

- **Tools:** see every tool with its version and health. Install, update or uninstall a tool, run its
  health check for each profile, change what each profile allows your agent to do, and start a sync.
  A tool's details can also start its MCP server, so an AI app without a terminal, such as ChatGPT or
  Claude, can use the tool. A step-by-step guide publishes that server with
  [Tailscale Funnel](/llms.mdx/docs/desktop/tailscale-funnel/content.md) or a Cloudflare tunnel.
- **Agents:** see which AI agents are on the computer and which skills each one has. The app finds a
  missing or old skill, a tool that the agent cannot find on its PATH and commands that a profile's
  permissions block, and fixes or explains each one.
- **Storage:** see how much the tools keep on the computer, look into the
  local store (the one file, `wirecat.db`, where the tools keep messages, mail and notes), make a backup and delete the folders of
  tools you no longer use.
- **Logs:** [search what the tools recorded about their runs](/llms.mdx/docs/desktop/logs/content.md) when something failed.
- **Settings:** change the app's language and interface size, and the settings of each tool.
- **Report a problem:** send a bug report with masked recent error logs.

## The tools stay command-line tools [#the-tools-stay-command-line-tools]

The app installs the same npm packages as `npm install -g @wirecat/tg-cli` and runs the tools' own
commands for versions, health checks, sign-in and sync. A tool installed by the app also works in a
terminal and for any agent, and a tool you installed yourself shows up in the app. The app never picks
an account or profile for you: a command that needs one uses the one you chose.

Your data stays where the tools keep it, on this computer. The app goes online to install tools from
npm, to download Node.js when it sets one up, to check GitHub for its own new version and to send a bug
report when you send one.

## Updates and removal [#updates-and-removal]

On macOS, Windows and with the AppImage, the app updates itself: it offers a new version at the top of
the window. A .deb or .rpm copy tells you about a new version, and you install the new package yourself.
[Updates](/en/download#updates) and [uninstall](/en/download#uninstall) on the download page give the
steps for each system. Removing the app leaves the tools and their data in place.

Prefer a terminal? [Install a tool by hand or with your agent](/llms.mdx/docs/installation/content.md).