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Installation

Synapse is distributed as a single static binary (no Node.js at runtime, no CGO). Choose one of the methods below.

Requirements

  • macOS or Linux for Homebrew and the curl install script
  • Windows amd64 for prebuilt releases (zip from GitHub Releases; no Homebrew install yet)
  • Go 1.22+ (see go.mod) only if you build from source

Windows (prebuilt release)

  1. Open Releases and download synapse_<version>_windows_amd64.zip for the version you want (or Latest).
  2. Extract the zip. You should get an executable named like synapse_v1.2.3_windows_amd64.exe.
  3. Run it from that folder, or rename it to synapse.exe, move it to a directory on your PATH, and open a new terminal.

Verify in PowerShell or cmd (use the real file name if you did not rename):

.\synapse_v1.2.3_windows_amd64.exe version

After you rename to synapse.exe and put it on your PATH, you can run synapse version.

Notes

  • Releases are 64-bit (amd64) only; there is no Windows arm64 build in the matrix yet.
  • Homebrew and scripts/install.sh are Unix-oriented; use the zip above on Windows.

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

brew install calvinchengx/tap/synapse

Verify:

synapse version

Install script (curl)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/calvinchengx/synapse/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Review the script on GitHub before piping to sh if you prefer.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/calvinchengx/synapse.git
cd synapse
make build

This produces ./synapse in the repository root. Optionally install it somewhere on your PATH:

cp synapse /usr/local/bin/   # example

Frontend in the binary

  • make build embeds a stub HTML shell if the Svelte app has not been built yet.
  • For a release build with the full SPA embedded, run make build-release (requires Node.js and npm).

Troubleshooting

Issue What to try
command not found: synapse Ensure the install location is on your PATH, or use ./synapse from the build directory.
Windows: synapse / 'synapse' is not recognized Add the folder containing synapse.exe to Settings → System → About → Advanced system settings → Environment Variables → Path, or invoke the full path to the .exe.
Old version after upgrade Re-run brew upgrade calvinchengx/tap/synapse or rebuild from a fresh git pull.
Permission errors Avoid sudo for curl \| sh unless you understand the script; prefer Homebrew or a user-writable prefix.

Next: Getting started.