Install the app and link it to your account

The app runs on your computer and drives your server over SSH. It needs a Pupitre account before anything else; the server comes after.

Download

The download page recognises your system and offers its build; the console hands out the same files under Download the app. Each file is published with its size and its SHA-256.

System	What is published
macOS	a .dmg, one for Apple silicon and one for Intel
Windows	an .exe installer, x64
Linux	an .AppImage and a .deb, x64

There is no arm64 build for Windows or Linux yet.

macOS

Open the .dmg and drag Pupitre onto Applications. The app is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple, so Gatekeeper lets it through: the first launch only asks whether to open an app downloaded from the internet. Answer Open.

Windows

Run the installer. It installs for your user alone and asks nothing.

The installer is not code-signed yet. SmartScreen may therefore stop it with Windows protected your PC: click More info, check that the file is the one you downloaded from pupitre.studio, then Run anyway.

Linux

The .deb installs like any package, and puts Pupitre in your applications menu:

sudo apt install ./pupitre_*_amd64.deb

The AppImage needs no install, but it needs FUSE 2 and the execute bit:

sudo apt install libfuse2t64    # Ubuntu 24.04; libfuse2 on 22.04
chmod +x Pupitre-*.AppImage
./Pupitre-*.AppImage

The SSH client

The app does not carry its own SSH: it runs your system’s ssh and ssh-keygen, with its own configuration and its own keys.

• macOS ships them.
• Windows 11 ships the OpenSSH client. If ssh does not answer in a terminal, add OpenSSH Client under Settings › System › Optional features.
• Ubuntu ships them in openssh-client; sudo apt install openssh-client if it is missing.

Without ssh-keygen, the app cannot generate a key and says so: install OpenSSH, or import a key you already have.

One difference on Windows: its OpenSSH cannot be handed a password by another program. When a server only accepts a password at the first connection, the app gives you a line to paste into a terminal, which asks for the password itself. See connect the app.

Link it to your account

At first launch the app opens on Sign in to open Pupitre.

1. Sign in opens your browser on https://app.pupitre.studio/auth/device, with the code already filled in. Sign in to the console there if you are not already: an account is created the first time, see signing in.
2. Check that the code in the browser is the one the app shows, and approve it.
3. The app takes over on its own a few seconds later.

The code expires after thirty minutes. If you closed the tab, Reopen the browser. The app never asks for your credentials: it ends up with its own session, and works seven days without reaching the console after that.

Free servers and the licence

Every organisation enrols its first servers for free, with nothing to open in the console and no card; beyond them, the organisation needs a licence, granted on request. See licence.

When the organisation’s licence is suspended, the app stays on Licence required and names the organisation it looked at. Once the licence is valid again, Refresh.

Which organisation

The app works for one organisation at a time: at first, the first one your account joined. If you belong to several, Settings › Servers lists them under Your organizations, and Make active switches this computer — the console keeps its own. When you add a server, the app says which organisation it will be enrolled for and offers Enrol for another organization.

Next

Choose a VPS, then connect the app to it. To remove everything later, see uninstall.