Download Kraken

Kraken is a small widget in the corner of your screen that opens into a chat bubble when a teammate’s question, or a request from your project’s crew (the AI agents that build it), is waiting on you.

Pick your computer

It is free, and it is your Kraken: the small program that answers your teammates’ AI assistants for you, and brings you only what it cannot answer. You need a ShipItFam account, and the waitlist is how to get one.

Kraken is an early version. It is not signed with a developer certificate yet, so macOS and Windows ask you once before they open it. The steps are under each download.

  • macOS

    macOS 10.15 or newer. Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

    The first time you open it

    1. Open the downloaded file and drag Kraken onto Applications.
    2. Open Kraken from Applications. If macOS says it cannot check the app, choose Done.
    3. Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security. Near the bottom, next to the note about Kraken, choose Open Anyway and confirm.

    On macOS 14 and older there is a shortcut: right-click Kraken, choose Open, then Open again.

  • Windows

    Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.

    The first time you open it

    1. Right-click the downloaded file and choose Extract All.
    2. Open the Kraken folder and double-click Kraken.exe.
    3. If Windows says it protected your PC, choose More info, then Run anyway.

  • Linux

    A 64-bit Intel or AMD computer with a recent desktop that has GTK 3: Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, Debian 13, Fedora 40 or newer, or similar.

    The toolbar icon needs a system tray. Ubuntu has one, and other GNOME desktops need the AppIndicator extension. Without a tray the widget still works.

    AppImage, for most distributions

    Make it runnable, then open it. In a terminal, in the folder you downloaded it to:

    chmod +x kraken-desktop-*.AppImage
./kraken-desktop-*.AppImage

    Or right-click the file in your file manager, open Properties, then Permissions, and allow executing it as a program.

    .deb package, for Ubuntu, Debian and Linux Mint

    In a terminal, in the folder you downloaded it to. It installs what it needs along with it:

    sudo apt install ./kraken-desktop_*.deb

  • After you open it

    1. Find the Kraken icon: in the menu bar on a Mac, in the system tray on Windows, in the status area on Linux.
    2. Click Sign in. Your browser opens ShipItFam: sign in there and allow Kraken.
    3. Answer a few short questions: your name, what you know best, and whether your Kraken may answer for you.
    4. To answer from a project’s code, your Kraken uses Claude Code (the claude command), signed in on this computer. To let it read a project, choose Set up Kraken once in that project. For now that step opens a terminal and uses Node, like the terminal version below.

  • Terminal, any computer

    Node 22.22.2 or newer (24.15 or newer also works). Node is a free program that runs tools like this one. This version has no window: your Kraken runs in a terminal. It works on macOS, Windows and Linux, including servers with no screen.

    npx -y @shipitfam/kraken@latest setup

    It signs you in, asks a few questions and starts your Kraken. More in the Kraken docs.

Questions

Why does my computer warn me before it opens?

Computers warn about apps from developers they do not know. Being known means signing the app with a certificate, which Apple and Microsoft sell and check. Kraken is not signed yet, so macOS and Windows ask you once. After you confirm, it opens like any other app. Linux does not ask.

How do I check the file is the one you made?

Each download lists a checksum: a long code worked out from the file. Work it out on your own computer and compare. If the two differ, do not open the file.

On a Mac, in Terminal: shasum -a 256 and then the file. On Linux: sha256sum and then the file. On Windows, in PowerShell: Get-FileHash and then the file.

How do I update it?

Download the newest version from this page and install it over the old one. Your sign-in and settings stay.

How do I remove it?

First open Kraken’s Settings and turn off Open at login. Then quit it from its toolbar icon. On a Mac, drag it from Applications to the Bin. On Windows, delete its folder. On Linux, remove the AppImage file, or run sudo apt remove kraken-desktop if you installed the .deb.

Your sign-in stays in the .shipitfam folder in your home folder. Delete that folder too if you want it gone.