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macOS, Windows, Linux

Platforms

macOS, Windows, Linux

PlatformBuildWhat it does
macOS (Apple Silicon)conifer-macos-arm64The full product: embedded engine, local inference in-process, plus everything below.
Linux (x86-64)conifer-linux-x86_64-thinThin client: cloud through the gateway, and any Conifer host on your network. No local inference. Fully static; runs on Alpine and old glibc alike.
Windows (x86-64)conifer-windows-x86_64-thin.exeThin client, same contract as Linux.

conifer version prints which product you're holding.

What thin means

A thin client runs no models. It signs in, spends against your account, runs fuse, and serves the full door with conifer serve, fronting the cloud or a Mac on your network running the engine. Engine-only flags don’t exist there, and engine-only API routes answer 501.

Local inference off Apple Silicon is not shipped today.

Installing

macOS and Linux:

terminal
curl -fsSL https://www.conifer.build/install-cli.sh | sh

The script detects the platform, verifies the SHA-256 against the published checksum, installs to /usr/local/bin (or ~/.local/bin), and never asks for sudo.

Windows: download conifer-windows-x86_64-thin.exe.zip from the latest release and verify the .sha256 beside it. If SmartScreen warns on first run: More info, then Run anyway.

Updates

terminal
conifer update          # verify, swap atomically, roll back if the new binary fails
conifer update --check  # just tell me

The mechanism is identical on all three platforms. A passive once-a-day check prints one line when a newer release exists; CONIFER_UPDATE_CHECK=off silences it, and offline mode (conifer privacy offline on) stops all update traffic with everything else.

Per-platform notes

Worth knowing
macOSSigned and notarized. If a browser download quarantines it: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./conifer
Linux headlessNo D-Bus means no keychain. Pass credentials by env (CONIFER_ENTITLEMENT_TOKEN, --api-key-env) instead of login.
WindowsRuns in PowerShell and cmd alike; keys live in Credential Manager.