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Installation

Prebuilt Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Release archives contain three binaries: lite-anvil (full editor), nano-anvil (minimal single-file editor), and note-anvil (markdown note-taking app). Install whichever you need, or all three.

Linux

Pick whichever format matches your distro:

The .deb and .rpm install lite-anvil, nano-anvil, and note-anvil together.

  • Debian / Ubuntu: download lite-anvil_*.deb and install with: 
    sudo apt install ./lite-anvil_*_amd64.deb
  • Fedora / RHEL / openSUSE: download lite-anvil-*.rpm and install with: 
    sudo dnf install ./lite-anvil-*.x86_64.rpm
  • Anywhere else (Arch, NixOS, Gentoo, ...): download lite-anvil-*-x86_64.AppImage, make it executable, and run it: 
    chmod +x lite-anvil-*-x86_64.AppImage
./lite-anvil-*-x86_64.AppImage
  • Manual / portable: extract lite-anvil-*-linux-x86_64.tar.gz and copy the binary + data/ directory to wherever you like. Desktop entry + icon are included in resources/linux/ and resources/icons/.

macOS

Download lite-anvil-*-macos-{x86_64,aarch64}.zip for your architecture, extract it, and from a Terminal in the extracted folder run:

bash install-mac.sh

This copies LiteAnvil.app, NanoAnvil.app, and NoteAnvil.app to /Applications, clears the download quarantine bit, and creates lite-anvil / nano-anvil / note-anvil CLI symlinks in /usr/local/bin and /opt/homebrew/bin.

Running the script via bash is what lets the quarantine clear actually take effect — macOS Sequoia's Gatekeeper no longer honors the right-click → Open bypass for unsigned apps, so a double-click install would fail.

Windows

Download LiteAnvil-*-x86_64-setup.exe and run it. The installer bundles lite-anvil.exe, nano-anvil.exe, and note-anvil.exe, creates Start Menu shortcuts, and offers optional file-association and Add to PATH tasks. A SmartScreen warning appears the first time (the build is unsigned) — click More info → Run anyway.

Building from Source

Requirements

  • Rust 1.85+ via rustup
  • System libraries:
Library Ubuntu/Debian Fedora Arch macOS (Homebrew)
SDL3 libsdl3-dev SDL3-devel sdl3 sdl3
FreeType2 libfreetype6-dev freetype-devel freetype2 freetype
PCRE2 libpcre2-dev pcre2-devel pcre2 pcre2

Build & Run

git clone https://github.com/danpozmanter/lite-anvil.git
cd lite-anvil
cargo build --release
./target/release/lite-anvil [path]

macOS App Bundle (from source)

mkdir -p LiteAnvil.app/Contents/MacOS
cp target/release/lite-anvil LiteAnvil.app/Contents/MacOS/
cp -r data LiteAnvil.app/Contents/MacOS/
cp resources/macos/Info.plist LiteAnvil.app/Contents/
codesign --force --deep --sign - --timestamp=none LiteAnvil.app

Debian Package

cargo install cargo-deb
cargo deb --no-build

Configuration

User config location:

Platform Path
Linux ~/.config/lite-anvil/
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/lite-anvil/
Windows %APPDATA%\lite-anvil\

Key files: