Install and first runCopy Anchor Link

English

SummaryCopy Anchor Link

This page takes you from nothing to your first chat. You run one command, npx delorun. It downloads Delorun, checks that the download is genuine, asks a few questions and sets Delorun up. You then start it with delorun, and it opens in your browser. Everything then runs on your own computer. You need a computer that Delorun supports, Node.js to run the command, and a key for the AI model you want to talk to. A chat needs the key; the studio opens without one, so you can look around first.

Delorun is a community fork of DeepSeek Harness, the open-source program that lets an AI model work on files and run commands on your computer.

ContentsCopy Anchor Link

• Before you start
• Install
• Windows through WSL2
• What the launcher verifies
• Setup: how you will use Delorun
• The studio and your first chat
• The default workspace
• A computer without a browser
• Next
• For the technically curious

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

• A supported computer. Linux on x64 or arm64, or Windows through WSL2 (Windows through WSL2). Delorun 0.1.0 does not run on native Windows, and macOS joins in a later release (Roadmap and vision).
• Node.js 24.9 or newer. Only the install command needs it. Check with node --version.
• A model key. A key is a secret text that lets Delorun use an AI model on your account. The company or server that runs the model is the model provider. The default is a DeepSeek API key. Other providers work too (Model providers). You can skip the key during setup and add it later.
• git, which Delorun uses to save your settings before an update (Updates).

InstallCopy Anchor Link

Run this in a terminal:

npx delorun

The first run downloads and installs Delorun, then starts setup. Delorun prints the checks described below, then asks the first setup question. Every later npx delorun starts the installed Delorun and downloads nothing.

At the end of setup, Delorun offers Install the delorun command? (runs npm install -g delorun). Say yes, and you can type delorun instead of npx delorun from then on.

Delorun keeps everything in one folder, ~/.delorun, which only you can open (Your Delorun home).

Windows through WSL2Copy Anchor Link

Delorun 0.1.0 runs on Windows inside WSL2, the Windows feature that runs Linux next to Windows. It does not run in a native Windows terminal such as PowerShell.

1. Install WSL2 with its default Ubuntu: open PowerShell and run wsl --install, then restart Windows if it asks.
2. Open the Ubuntu app from the Start menu. Everything after this happens in that terminal.
3. Install Node.js 24.9 or newer inside Ubuntu, not in Windows (Before you start).
4. Run npx delorun there and follow Install.

Keep your projects inside the Ubuntu home folder, such as ~/projects, because files on the Windows drives (/mnt/c) are slow for Linux programs. Open the studio from your Windows browser at the address Delorun prints.

What the launcher verifiesCopy Anchor Link

Before it installs anything, the launcher proves the download is the release Delorun's maintainers published. It prints each check:

Resolving the release: the stable channel names 0.1.0.
Checking the signature: 0.1.0 is signed under release root 1.
Checking the release log: verified.
Downloading delorun-0.1.0-linux-x64.tar.gz (…).
Installing release 0.1.0.

• Signature. Delorun's release keys sign the release. The launcher checks the signatures and that the downloaded file matches. If anything does not match, nothing is installed.
• Public release log. Every release is also entered in a public, append-only release log. The launcher checks the entry. If the log cannot be reached, the launcher installs the release on its signature alone, prints a warning, and checks the log again at the next start that can reach it.
• Every start. The launcher compares the installed files with the signed list. A start with a release installed needs no network.

You can run these checks again at any time with delorun verify (Daily use). What you trust when you use Delorun says what you still rely on. The launcher installs from releases.delorun.com, with GitHub Releases and a spare host of Delorun's as fallbacks, and from no other host. It does not check the release's SBOM, and the npm package carries no build attestation.

Setup: how you will use DelorunCopy Anchor Link

The first delorun on a new home runs setup. It asks one question at a time, and every question after the first offers ← Back. Nothing is written until you choose Save and set up on the last screen; Cancel there writes nothing.

The first question asks how you will use Delorun. Its answer sets the defaults and decides which questions come next. Each choice shows what it does, who it suits and how to change it later, and the recommended choice is marked:

How will you use Delorun?
● Just me, on this computer (recommended)
○ Also from my phone or another device
○ For scripts and automation

If you are unsure, choose the first. Most people then answer three questions: the model provider, its key, and how much Delorun asks.

Every choice then asks these questions, in this order:

1. Privacy. A note, no question. It says that Delorun has no telemetry of its own, that DeepSeek Harness's desktop analytics and DeepSeek's session-log upload are off unless you turn them on, and that once a day Delorun checks whether a newer release exists and sends nothing about your installation. The note ends: Delorun checks for new releases once a day. To turn that off before Delorun first starts, choose More settings on the last screen, or run delorun setup privacy later.

2. Import. Only if you used DeepSeek Harness before and this Delorun home has no chats: Copy your DeepSeek Harness chats, attachments and workspace list? They are only read, and nothing in them changes. The answer starts on No (Switching from DeepSeek Harness). The automation choice never asks it.

3. Model provider. Which model provider should Delorun use? lists DeepSeek (recommended), More providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini and others, or any server that speaks the OpenAI API) and Choose later.

4. Model key. The question names the provider's page for creating an API key, then asks How should Delorun get the DeepSeek API key? You can paste it now, and Delorun stores it in your Delorun folder where only you can read it, or use DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, which Delorun reads each time it starts. An environment variable is a named setting that your terminal passes to the programs it starts. If you choose the variable and it is not set in this terminal, setup says so at once and tells you how to set it. Setup checks a typed key with one request to the provider (Model providers).

5. Prompts. How much should Delorun ask before it changes things? This is the prompts answer. It has three choices:

   Copy Text

   ● Ask me first (recommended)
   ○ Ask less (like DeepSeek Harness)
   ○ Never ask (dangerous)

   Ask me first asks before a chat gets full access to a folder, adds a tool server, edits its own instructions or schedules work, and you can allow each once. Ask less (like DeepSeek Harness) behaves as DeepSeek Harness does: few questions, and commands still run in a sandbox (What Delorun protects). Never ask (dangerous) lets any chat switch to full access with no question; it prints a warning, asks you to confirm twice and to type full access everywhere (Consents). It is always listed last.

A review screen then lists every answer, for example for the first choice:

How you use Delorun: just me, on this computer
Release check: on, once a day
Model: DeepSeek, default model. Key: read from DEEPSEEK_API_KEY at each start.
Prompts: Ask me first
Keep running in the background: yes
Remote access: off
Setup name: default, studio port 3080

Nothing is saved until you choose Save and set up.

You should see Save these answers and set up Delorun? with Save and set up, More settings, Cancel and ← Back. Choose Save and set up.

Setup then writes your answers, prints the next steps and starts nothing:

Delorun is set up. Nothing is running yet.

Next:
  1. Set DEEPSEEK_API_KEY in your terminal, then run delorun stop and delorun start if Delorun is running. It is the DeepSeek key you chose.
  2. Start Delorun and open the studio: delorun
     Send a first message in a new chat. The install guide's section on your first chat walks through it: https://docs.delorun.com/guide/install#the-studio-and-your-first-chat

Change an answer later: delorun setup <section> (delorun setup --list shows the sections).
If something looks wrong: delorun doctor.

Step 1 appears only while the key variable you chose is not set. The steps differ by choice. The phone choice adds Add your phone or another device: delorun devices approve, then type the code it shows., or, when Tailscale was not ready, Remote access is off. Fix what the Tailscale note said, then run delorun reach on tailscale. The automation choice replaces step 2 with Run a task from a script or CI: delorun headless "your task" and adds To use the studio as well, start it any time with delorun. When the launcher started setup, the first step installs the delorun command at the same version, with npm install -g delorun@<version>.

The studio and your first chatCopy Anchor Link

Run delorun after setup. It starts Delorun and opens the studio in your browser. The studio is Delorun's web page for chatting with the model. It prints the studio address and three commands:

Delorun is running in the background and keeps running after you close this terminal.
Studio: http://127.0.0.1:3080/ (opened in your browser)
  delorun status
  delorun logs --follow
  delorun stop

The studio listens on 127.0.0.1, which only your own computer can reach, unless you turn on remote access. The browser signs in with a link that works once and expires after one minute. delorun open opens the studio again with a fresh link.

The first time, the studio shows a short first-run guide, one step at a time, ending in a chat:

1. Welcome. Choose the language. Each model provider shows whether its key works. Add or change a provider here.
2. Look. Choose colours and theme, or the stock look.
3. Agents. Optionally add Claude Code or Codex as helpers a chat can hand work to.
4. Recommended plugins. Optionally add plugins, small add-ons that give Delorun more tools.
5. Phone access. Shown while remote access is not set up. It lists what Tailscale still needs.
6. Workspace. Choose the workspace for your first chat: the default one, a folder on your computer, or a git address to clone.
7. Ready. Choose Start a chat.

Every step has Back, Continue and Skip for now. Skip opens no chat. To go through the steps again, choose Settings → General → Getting started → Run setup again. Each step starts on your current choices, such as the mode and theme saved in Settings, and a choice changes only when you change it. On a phone, the Phone access step says that Tailscale is set up on the computer that runs Delorun.

A new chat starts in one of the agent presets, which the studio calls modes: Standard, PTC, Minimal and Creator. In Creator mode, the agent writes plugins and presets with you. Type a message to chat. If you set up no provider or key, the model cannot answer; add one in Settings → Agent → Models.

The default workspaceCopy Anchor Link

A chat works in a workspace: a folder on your computer whose files the model may read and change. Delorun's default workspace is Delorun/default-workspace in your Documents folder, or in your home folder when your system has no Documents folder. The studio creates it the first time it is used. Add your own project folders in the studio.

A computer without a browserCopy Anchor Link

On a server or over SSH, Delorun cannot open a browser. Forward the studio's port from your own computer, then ask Delorun for a link:

# on your own computer
ssh -L 3080:127.0.0.1:3080 you@server
# on the server, in that SSH session
delorun open --print

delorun open --print prints a link, then This link signs in to the studio once, within one minute; run delorun open --print again for another. Open the link in the browser on your own computer. You should see the studio.

NextCopy Anchor Link

• Use Delorun every day: Daily use.
• Choose or change the model provider: Model providers.
• Coming from DeepSeek Harness: Switching from DeepSeek Harness.
• Know what is protected: What Delorun protects.
• If something went wrong: Troubleshooting.

For the technically curiousCopy Anchor Link

The delorun/docs/contracts/c02-release-manifest.md and the delorun/docs/contracts/c18-release-log.md define every signature and log check the launcher makes. The delorun/docs/contracts/c11-setup-answers.md defines each setup question and what it writes. The delorun/docs/design/first-run.md explains why setup asks what it asks.