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Installing SigmaShake Desktop

SigmaShake Desktop is the desktop version of SigmaShake — a tray-icon shield that supervises every AI agent on your computer. No terminal. No .rules files. Double-click to install, click a button to activate, the shield turns green.

If you bought a SigmaShake plan and you're not a developer, this is the version you want.

SigmaShake Desktop ships a per-user installer — you do not need administrator rights, and the app installs to your own user folder. Three ways to install, listed easiest first.

Option 1 — Download the installer (no terminal)​

  1. Go to sigmashake.com/desktop
  2. Click Download SigmaShake Desktop for Windows — you receive SigmaShakeDesktop-Setup.zip.
  3. Open Downloads, extract the zip, then double-click SigmaShake Desktop-Setup.exe inside the extracted folder.
  4. If Microsoft Defender SmartScreen appears ("Windows protected your PC"):
    • Click More info.
    • Click Run anyway.
    • This appears because the installer is not code-signed with a Microsoft-recognised certificate. It is safe to proceed — the installer is built directly from the SigmaShake source.
  5. The installer runs silently — there is no admin prompt because it installs to your own user folder.
  6. The SigmaShake shield appears in your system tray (bottom-right of the taskbar, next to the clock). If you don't see it, click the small ^ ("Show hidden icons") arrow to reveal it.

Option 2 — winget (one command)​

If you have a terminal open already, this is the fastest path:

winget install SigmaShake.Desktop

winget is Microsoft's official package manager and ships with Windows 11 and modern Windows 10. It handles the SmartScreen check for you.

First time using winget? Press Win + X on your keyboard, then click Terminal. Paste the command above and press Enter.

Option 3 — PowerShell one-liner​

If you prefer a single command that downloads and installs in one step:

iwr -useb sigmashake.com/desktop/install.ps1 | iex

What does this command do? iwr (Invoke-WebRequest) fetches the install script from sigmashake.com. | iex (Invoke-Expression) runs the script. The script downloads the signed installer, verifies it, and runs it silently. You can read the script before running it: just type iwr -useb sigmashake.com/desktop/install.ps1 (without the | iex part) and PowerShell will print the script to your screen instead of running it.

How do I open PowerShell? Press Win + X, then click Terminal (Windows 11) or Windows PowerShell (Windows 10). A blue or black command prompt window opens. Click inside it, paste the command (right-click pastes), and press Enter.

First-run wizard​

The first time SigmaShake Desktop opens, a welcome wizard appears.

Step 1 — Choose your protection profile​

Pick the profile that matches how you use AI agents:

ProfileFor
PersonalSolo Claude Code / Cursor / Windsurf use. Blocks destructive shell commands, asks before network writes.
ProfessionalKnowledge workers handling customer data. Adds secrets scanning, email guardrails, audit logging.
EnterpriseSOC2-ready. Tamper protection, SIEM forwarding, fleet enrollment. Requires organization admin.
Agent Dev ⚡IDE for vibecoders. Spawn agents, enforce guardrails, monitor everything. Unlocks the Agent Developer Environment.

Click your profile. You can change it later in Settings.

Step 2 — Activate your account​

This is where you connect SigmaShake Desktop to the SigmaShake account you bought your plan with. Two ways:

When you bought your plan, we emailed you a welcome link. Open that email, copy the link, then in the wizard:

  1. Click "Have an activation link from email?".
  2. Paste the link into the box that appears.
  3. Click Activate.

That's it. The wizard shows your email address in green and advances to the dashboard.

Lost the email? On the welcome page (the URL inside the email), click "Send me a fresh link" and we'll email you a new activation link to the same address.

Sign in with browser​

If you'd rather sign in interactively:

  1. Click Sign in with browser.
  2. Your default browser opens to accounts.sigmashake.com.
  3. Sign in with your SigmaShake account (or via SSO if your company is on Enterprise).
  4. The browser confirms, and SigmaShake Desktop automatically advances to the dashboard.

Step 3 — You're protected​

The wizard closes. The SigmaShake shield in your tray turns green. Any AI agent on your computer is now governed by the rules in your profile.

To open the dashboard at any time, click the tray icon and select Open Dashboard, or press Win + S and type SigmaShake Desktop.

Linux​

Four install paths. Flatpak is the most modern (sandboxed, delta auto-updates, works on every Flatpak-capable distro). The one-line installer is the simplest for a single user. APT + AppImage round out the distro-specific options.

Option 1 — Flatpak (recommended on Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, Steam Deck, Pop!_OS, Mint)​

Our signed Flatpak channel at flatpak.sigmashake.com ships both SigmaShake Desktop and the ssg CLI, sandboxed by default, with delta auto-updates via flatpak update. One-time remote add:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists sigmashake \
  https://flatpak.sigmashake.com/sigmashake.flatpakrepo

Install the apps:

flatpak install sigmashake com.sigmashake.Desktop
flatpak install sigmashake com.sigmashake.SSG   # optional — pairs the CLI too

Launch from your application menu, or:

flatpak run com.sigmashake.Desktop
flatpak run com.sigmashake.SSG --help

If you also installed the CLI, alias it for normal shell use:

alias ssg='flatpak run com.sigmashake.SSG'

Updates: flatpak update picks up every release automatically; the Electrobun delta updater inside the Desktop bundle is a no-op under Flatpak (the runtime is content-addressed and read-only).

First-time Flatpak setup? Most distros ship Flatpak preinstalled. If flatpak: command not found, your distro's docs cover it — see flatpak.org/setup.

Option 2 — One-line installer (recommended for single-user installs without Flatpak)​

Paste this in a terminal and SigmaShake Desktop installs, registers itself in your application menu, and launches:

curl -fsSL sigmashake.com/desktop/install.sh | sh

The installer:

  • Downloads the stable Electrobun bundle (~80 MB) from download.sigmashake.com/desktop/electrobun/.
  • Installs zstd for you if it isn't already present (asks once for sudo to call your package manager — apt / dnf / pacman / zypper / apk).
  • Extracts the bundle to ~/.local/share/SigmaShakeDesktop (no sudo, per-user only).
  • Writes a real Freedesktop menu entry to ~/.local/share/applications/sigmashake-desktop.desktop with absolute paths and a proper icon, so SigmaShake Desktop appears in your launcher and runs with a single click — same UX as an AppImage.
  • Refreshes the desktop database and icon cache.
  • Launches the app for you.

After install, future starts are one click from your application menu (GNOME Activities, KDE Krunner, COSMIC launcher, Pop!_OS Activities, etc.). The first-run wizard matches Windows — see First-run wizard above.

Read the script before running it​

curl -fsSL sigmashake.com/desktop/install.sh | less

Customise the install​

Env varEffect
SIGMASHAKE_DESKTOP_DIR=/opt/sigmashake-desktopInstall somewhere other than ~/.local/share/SigmaShakeDesktop.
SIGMASHAKE_NO_LAUNCH=1Install only — don't open the app at the end.

Manual extract (if you don't want to run a script)​

  1. Download stable-linux-x64-SigmaShakeDesktop.tar.zst from sigmashake.com/desktop (CDN: download.sigmashake.com/desktop/electrobun/).
  2. Install your distribution's zstd package if it isn't already present.
  3. Extract: tar -I zstd -xf stable-linux-x64-SigmaShakeDesktop.tar.zst (or zstd -dc … | tar xf - if your tar lacks -I).
  4. Run: cd SigmaShakeDesktop && ./bin/launcher (use chmod +x bin/launcher first if your shell says “permission denied”).

The bundled SigmaShake Desktop.desktop file ships with Exec=launcher (no path) and is not a one-click menu entry on its own — that's why the install script writes a corrected one. If you skip the script, just keep launching from ./bin/launcher.

Long-form Linux notes (manual install + uninstall): Linux desktop (Electrobun tarball).

Legacy Tauri (AppImage / .deb)​

Older AppImage and .deb packages from the Tauri era may still exist on disk. New downloads use the one-line installer above. If you're migrating from a legacy package, remove it with your distribution's package manager or delete the AppImage file, then run the one-liner.

macOS​

SigmaShake Desktop for macOS ships as .dmg installers. Use sigmashake.com/desktop or the direct links on Install on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon).

On first launch, right-click the app → Open may be required until Developer ID notarisation is fully rolled out for every channel.

Uninstalling SigmaShake Desktop​

Windows​

  1. Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
  2. Find SigmaShake Desktop in the list.
  3. Click the ⋯ (three dots) → Uninstall.
  4. Confirm.

This removes the application but leaves your settings (%USERPROFILE%\.sigmashake\ and %LOCALAPPDATA%\SigmaShake\). To remove those too:

# Run in PowerShell as your normal user (not Administrator):
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\.sigmashake"
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\SigmaShake"

Linux​

One-line installer (recommended): quit the app from the tray, then delete these three paths in your file manager (or with your shell):

  • ~/.local/share/SigmaShakeDesktop — the bundle
  • ~/.local/share/applications/sigmashake-desktop.desktop — the menu entry
  • ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/sigmashake-desktop.png — the icon

After removing the menu entry, run update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications so it disappears from your launcher immediately (otherwise it goes away on next login).

Manual extract elsewhere: quit the app and delete whatever SigmaShakeDesktop folder you extracted.

Optional full settings wipe: delete ~/.sigmashake/ with your file manager — or run ssg uninstall from a shell where ssg is on PATH.

Legacy .deb: remove the sigmashake-desktop package with your distribution's package manager.

Legacy AppImage: delete the .AppImage file from wherever you stored it.

Flatpak install: flatpak uninstall com.sigmashake.Desktop (and com.sigmashake.SSG if you installed the CLI too). Add --delete-data to also drop the sandboxed per-user state under ~/.var/app/com.sigmashake.Desktop/. The ~/.sigmashake/ state lives on the host filesystem (via the --filesystem=home portal) — remove it with ssg uninstall for a full wipe, or delete that directory in your file manager.

Troubleshooting​

Tray icon never appears​

On Windows: click the ^ ("Show hidden icons") arrow next to the system clock — your tray icon may be hidden. Drag it onto the visible part of the taskbar to keep it there.

On Linux Wayland: the tray icon needs an indicator extension. On GNOME, install the AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support extension.

"Sign in failed" after the browser flow​

  1. Make sure you're signing in with the same email you used to buy your plan.
  2. If you're signed in to multiple SigmaShake accounts in your browser, sign all of them out and try again.
  3. As a fallback, click "I'll authenticate later" in the wizard, then use the activation link from your welcome email.

SmartScreen still blocks the install after "Run anyway"​

This means the installer file was modified or downloaded from a non-official source. Re-download from sigmashake.com/desktop — Microsoft's tamper detection is strict but reliable.

Agent isn't being blocked even though I set up SigmaShake Desktop​

SigmaShake Desktop governs AI agents that run on your computer. If your agent runs in the cloud (e.g., GitHub Codespaces, a remote SSH host, a containerized devbox), you need to install ssg directly on that machine. See Getting Started for the CLI install path.

What's next?​