Installation

Triggerfish installs with a single command on macOS, Linux, and Windows. The installer handles everything: runtime setup, compilation, the first-run wizard, and daemon installation.

One-Command Install

macOS / Linux

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/greghavens/triggerfish/master/scripts/install.sh | bash

Windows

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/greghavens/triggerfish/master/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

What the Installer Does

1. Installs the Deno runtime if not already present on your system
2. Clones and compiles Triggerfish into a single binary
3. Runs the setup wizard (triggerfish dive) to configure your agent, LLM provider, and channels
4. Installs and starts the background daemon so your agent is always running

After the installer finishes, you have a fully working agent. No additional steps required.

System Requirements

Requirement	Details
Operating System	macOS, Linux, or Windows
Runtime	Deno 2.x (installed automatically by the installer)
Disk Space	Approximately 200 MB for the compiled binary and runtime
Network	Required for LLM API calls; all processing runs locally

TIP

No Docker, no containers, no cloud accounts required. Triggerfish is a single binary that runs on your machine.

Manual Install from Source

If you prefer to build from source or want to contribute to the project:

# 1. Install Deno (if you don't have it)
curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh

# 2. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/greghavens/triggerfish.git
cd triggerfish

# 3. Compile
deno task compile

# 4. Run the setup wizard
./triggerfish dive

# 5. (Optional) Install as a background daemon
./triggerfish start

INFO

Building from source requires Deno 2.x. The deno task compile command produces a self-contained binary with no external dependencies.

Runtime Directory

After running triggerfish dive, your configuration and data live at ~/.triggerfish/:

~/.triggerfish/
├── triggerfish.yaml          # Main configuration
├── SPINE.md                  # Agent identity and mission (system prompt)
├── TRIGGER.md                # Proactive behavior triggers
├── workspace/                # Agent code workspace
├── skills/                   # Installed skills
├── data/                     # SQLite database, session state
└── logs/                     # Daemon and execution logs

Daemon Management

The installer sets up Triggerfish as an OS-native background service:

Platform	Service Manager
macOS	launchd
Linux	systemd
Windows	Windows Service / Task Scheduler

After installation, you can manage the daemon with:

triggerfish start     # Install and start the daemon
triggerfish stop      # Stop the daemon
triggerfish status    # Check if the daemon is running
triggerfish logs      # View daemon logs

Updating

To check for and install updates:

triggerfish update

Next Steps

With Triggerfish installed, head to the Quick Start guide to configure your agent and start chatting.