> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cortex.foundation/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Cortex desktop app > Install and sign in to the Chat and Code desktop app, run Code on This PC, and let it keep itself up to date. The Cortex desktop app carries **Cortex Chat** and **Cortex Code** in a single window. It draws its own title bar with a switcher between **Chat** and **Code** and its own window controls, and it is the only client that can run a Code session on your own machine. This page covers what the installer does on each platform, the first launch and signing in, what the app adds over a browser tab, how to start a Code session on **This PC**, notifications, and how the app updates itself. Cortex does not publish a public download page yet, so there is no installer link here. See [Ways to run Cortex](/getting-started/downloads) for the full picture. ## Install Open the downloaded disk image and drag **Cortex** to your Applications folder, then open it. The build is notarised, so you do not have to override any security warning. The installer shows its steps rather than installing in one click, and it lets you change the installation directory. It installs for your user only, so administrator rights are not required. It creates a desktop shortcut and a Start-menu shortcut, both named **Cortex**. A portable build for 64-bit Windows is also published for people who would rather not run an installer. Either download the portable application image and make it executable, or install the Debian package with your package manager. The launcher entry is named **Cortex** and described as `Cortex Chat + Code`. Installing also lets a completed sign-in hand you back to the app. ## First launch The first launch shows a welcome screen, once. It names your platform (**Cortex for Mac**, **Cortex for Windows** or **Cortex for Linux**) above the line **Chat and Code — on this machine.** and the body `Sign in for Cortex models and cloud runtimes, or continue on This PC with your own provider keys.` **Get started** takes you to the sign-in screen. **Continue without an account** skips sign-in and lets you work on This PC with your own provider keys. On the **Sign in** screen, under **Continue to Cortex**, pick **Continue with Google**, **Continue with GitHub**, **Continue with Apple** or **Continue with SSO**, or type an **Email address** and **Password**. The email and password form stays inside the app window. Each of the four buttons opens your system browser. When you are done there, a Cortex page says **Finish signing in in the Cortex app** and hands you back. If the app does not come forward by itself, select **Open Cortex**, then close the browser window. To work without a Cortex account, open **Settings → Providers** and either point the app at a model server running on this machine or paste a provider key. On the desktop app that key is kept in your operating system's own credential store, not in the app. ## What the desktop app adds over the browser | On the desktop app | In a browser tab instead | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **This PC** as a Code runtime: agents act on a folder you pick on this machine | Cloud, a paired machine, or SSH, never the local machine | | A local terminal and local Git for Code runs | Nothing local runs in a tab | | Your provider keys kept in the operating system's own credential store | Keys never reach the tab, and the service answers with a mask | | Its own window chrome, with the product switcher and window controls | Normal browser chrome | | Notifications raised by your operating system | Browser notifications, once you allow them | | Opening a local folder through the system's folder picker | No local folder access | | Conversations and sessions kept on this machine | Everything comes from the service | | Automatic updates | The tab is always current | | A double-tap capture chord: **⌘ ⌘** on Mac, **Alt Alt** on Windows | `This chord lives on the desktop app. The web has no global hotkey.` | | Recording which apps and sites this computer opened, times only, off by default | `The web app does not store desktop history.` | The theme, the notification inbox, an optional remote-host address and whether you have seen the welcome screen are preferences of this device, not account settings, so they do not follow you to another machine. ## Run a Code session on This PC Use the switcher in the title bar, then start a new session and choose **This PC**. The system's folder picker opens. There is no workspace-name field: the folder's name identifies the repository. If you cancel the picker, no session is created. Once the session has some history, the composer shows chips for the runtime, **This PC**, the repository, the branch and the worktree. Each action asks for **Allow**, **Always** or **Deny**, and the session runs in **Ask**, **Plan** or **Agent** mode, with **Agent** as the default. If nothing on this machine is attached yet, the session says so: `This session runs on This PC, and no host is connected. Pair one from the Host pane and the composer comes back.` Cortex never silently moves a This PC session into the cloud. If the place you chose is unavailable, the session tells you instead of relocating. To use a machine you reach over the network, go to **Code → Connect a server** and follow the connection form. To attach to a machine that is already running Cortex Code, open **Code → Settings** and enter that host's address; only the address is needed. The host status is shown as one of **Cloud only**, **Connecting**, **Connected**, **Disconnected**, **Cloud session running**, **Permission blocked** or **Failed wake**. To let Code see your repositories, open **Code → Settings → Integrations** and select **Connect GitHub**. The installation page opens in your system browser. There is no personal-access-token field to fill in. ## Notifications Chat and Code share one notification inbox, and the desktop app also raises your operating system's own notifications when the window is not focused. You are notified when a scheduled task produces something, when you are mentioned, when a Code run finishes, when a Code run is waiting on a permission, when a bot needs an answer, and when a computer fails to wake. Open the in-app centre from the command palette (**Notifications**), where the empty state reads **Nothing new.** The **Notifications** page under Code shows the same items, with the empty state **Nothing needs you** and `Runs that finish or fail while you are elsewhere will land here.` Mark-as-read is offered only while something is unread. ## Updates The app checks for an update when it starts and then every four hours, and downloads it quietly in the background. While it downloads you may see `Downloading Cortex…` with a percentage. When a build is ready a toast says `Cortex {version} is ready to install.` with **Restart now** and **Later**. Choosing **Later** installs the update the next time you quit. The app never moves you to an older version, and it keeps checking the channel the build you installed came from, so there is no channel picker inside the app. Mac builds are notarised and Windows builds are code-signed, and Windows verifies the signature of an update before installing it. In a browser tab the update banner never appears, because there is nothing there to install. ## Related * [Ways to run Cortex](/getting-started/downloads) for every application and how each updates. * [Code on desktop](/code/desktop) for working on This PC in detail. * [SSH hosts](/code/ssh-hosts) and [Machines](/code/machines) for servers and paired computers. * [Notifications](/getting-started/notifications) for what Cortex tells you about. * [Bot desktop app](/bot/desktop) for the separate window that runs your agents.