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Installation

This page installs Waylo itself — the server, on the GNOME machine you want to reach. Any browser can then connect to it; the optional desktop client at the bottom is for the machine you connect from.

The quickest way to install Waylo is the one-line installer. Under the hood it downloads the self-extracting .run and runs it, so the target machine needs no Node, npm, compiler, or network tooling — just a GNOME session.

Run this as your normal desktop user (not sudo) — Waylo installs a systemd user service that must live in your graphical session, and only uses sudo for system packages:

wget -qO- https://waylo.site/install.sh | sh

Prefer to read it first? Download, inspect, then run:

wget -O install.sh https://waylo.site/install.sh
less install.sh
sh install.sh

Pass installer options after the script:

wget -qO- https://waylo.site/install.sh | sh -s -- --port 9000

The installer detects your architecture, downloads the matching .run, verifies its SHA256, installs to ~/.local/share/waylo, sets up a systemd user service on port 8080, offers to install missing system packages (GStreamer, OpenSSH) and the locked-screen extension, and prints how to connect.

Self-extracting installer (.run)​

If you'd rather grab the archive yourself — for air-gapped installs, to keep a copy, or to script it — download the .run and run it directly:

wget https://waylo.site/waylo-<version>-linux-x64.run
chmod +x waylo-<version>-linux-x64.run
./waylo-<version>-linux-x64.run                    # interactive install
./waylo-<version>-linux-x64.run -- --help          # list options
./waylo-<version>-linux-x64.run -- -y              # non-interactive, defaults
./waylo-<version>-linux-x64.run -- --uninstall     # remove

The .run bundles a pinned Node runtime, the prebuilt frontend, and prebuilt native dependencies, so it needs nothing else on the target. Common options: --prefix DIR, --port N, --no-https, --use-system-node, --no-deps, --no-service, --no-extension. See the Installer reference for the full list and what the installer does.

Desktop client (optional)​

Waylo needs no client — any modern browser works. The desktop app is for when you connect to several machines: it saves them, keeps their passwords in your system keyring, pins their self-signed certificates, and opens each as a session tab. Install it on the machine you connect from.

PlatformDownload
LinuxAppImage (runs anywhere) or deb
WindowsInstaller .exe
macOSnot published yet — build it on a Mac
wget https://waylo.site/waylo-desktop-latest-linux-x86_64.AppImage
wget -qO- https://waylo.site/waylo-desktop-latest-SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c --ignore-missing
chmod +x waylo-desktop-latest-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./waylo-desktop-latest-linux-x86_64.AppImage

The deb installs from the command line — apt pulls the handful of GTK and keyring libraries the client needs, which dpkg -i would leave to you:

wget https://waylo.site/waylo-desktop-latest-linux-amd64.deb
wget -qO- https://waylo.site/waylo-desktop-latest-SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c --ignore-missing
sudo apt install ./waylo-desktop-latest-linux-amd64.deb
note

Don't double-click the deb. Ubuntu Software is a confined snap with no read access to your home directory, so it never gets to open the file it was handed and sits on Loading application details… forever — for any deb, not just this one. Use the command above, or the AppImage, which needs no installer at all.

The Windows installer isn't code-signed, so SmartScreen warns the first time — More info → Run anyway. The -latest- URLs are repointed on each release; link the versioned filenames they point at if you need a fixed version.

See Desktop Client for what it does.

Next steps​