Downloads

Zeltro is two pieces. The CLI does the work; the GUI is an optional desktop front end for it. Neither ships as a package — both install from source with one command, so the checkout you install from is the one that runs, and updating is a git pull.

Zeltro CLI

Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CaneBayComputers/zeltro-cli/master/install-ubuntu.sh | bash

Swap the script for your distro: install-fedora.sh or install-arch.sh.

macOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CaneBayComputers/zeltro-cli/master/install-mac.sh | bash

Installs the Xcode command line tools, Homebrew and Docker Desktop if any are missing.

Windows

Zeltro is a Linux tool; on Windows it runs inside WSL2. Right-click PowerShell and choose Run as administrator, then:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CaneBayComputers/zeltro-cli/master/install-windows.ps1 | iex

Requires Windows 10 version 2004 (build 19041) or newer — the installer checks the build before it changes anything, rather than failing after the reboot.

Then run zeltro configure once. Full details in Installation.

Zeltro GUI

Installed the same way as the CLI — one command, which clones the repo for you. On Linux and macOS it installs the CLI first if zeltro is missing, so this is the only thing you need to run:

Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CaneBayComputers/zeltro-gui/master/install-ubuntu.sh | bash

Swap the script for your distro: install-fedora.sh or install-arch.sh.

macOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CaneBayComputers/zeltro-gui/master/install-mac.sh | bash

To install a checkout you already have rather than a fresh clone, run the script from inside it — it detects the local repository and builds that instead:

git clone https://github.com/CaneBayComputers/zeltro-gui.git
cd zeltro-gui && ./install-ubuntu.sh

Windows

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CaneBayComputers/zeltro-gui/master/scripts/install-windows.ps1 | iex

The installer pulls the npm dependencies, compiles the TypeScript, rebuilds the native terminal module against Electron, and drops a launcher and a desktop entry. It takes a few minutes, mostly npm install. Re-running it is safe.

What’s in it

Create with AI, the full app library, new project and clone, start/stop of the shared services, embedded tabbed terminals for AI sessions, and a Settings panel with AI agent configuration and a theme picker. Five themes ship — Retro (the default), Dark, Light, Matrix and Zeltro — each with its own 16-colour terminal palette so output stays readable, including on Light.

Windows works differently

On Linux and macOS the GUI drives a Zeltro on the same machine. On Windows there is no local Zeltro and the installer does not try to add one — the GUI drives Zeltro on other machines over SSH: a Linux box, a Mac, a Raspberry Pi, an EC2 instance. Add them under Settings → SSH Hosts; each needs Zeltro already installed and configured. Projects, containers and files live on the host that runs them.

Remote hosts work from Linux and macOS too. Windows simply has no local option to fall back on.

Why no packages?

There used to be .deb, .rpm, .pkg.tar.zst and .dmg builds of the GUI. They are gone, and the download links that pointed at them are gone with them.

Packaging an Electron app per distro meant maintaining five build paths and a release cycle for a project whose install is otherwise a git pull, and it made the CLI and GUI behave differently for no benefit to anyone using them. Building from source removes the whole category — no signing, no per-distro dependency declarations, no stale release assets, and no version skew between what you downloaded and what is in the repository.

It also removes the macOS Gatekeeper problem. The .dmg builds were unsigned, so first launch was blocked with an “unidentified developer” warning that took a xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine to clear. A source build does not carry the quarantine attribute, so there is nothing to work around.

Versions

zeltro --version reports the CLI version. The GUI’s About panel shows both.

The two version independently and are not expected to match. Compatibility is handled by feature detection, not by comparing version numbers — the GUI asks the installed CLI what it can do and hides anything it cannot, so an older CLI loses individual features rather than failing outright. Upgrade either one on its own whenever you like.

Source

Support

Zeltro is free and always will be — both parts are MIT. If it saves you time and you want to chip in: