Platforms
macOS, Windows, Linux
The CLI reaches the gateway from all three. Two of them can also run open models on the machine.
| Platform | Build | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | conifer-macos-arm64 | Everything: the gateway, serve, the coding-tool setup, and open models on the machine. |
| Windows (x86-64) | conifer-windows-x86_64.exe | The same. |
| Linux (x86-64) | conifer-linux-x86_64-thin | A thin client. The gateway, serve and the coding-tool setup, plus any Conifer host on your network. It does not run models itself. |
conifer version prints which build you have.
What thin means
A thin client runs no models. Everything else works. It signs in, spends against your account, and conifer serve gives your tools the same local endpoint, in front of the gateway or of a Mac or Windows machine on your network. Flags that only make sense with a model on the machine do not exist on it.
Local inference ships on Apple Silicon and Windows. Linux stays thin.
Installing
curl -fsSL https://conifer.build/setup | bashThe script detects your platform, verifies the download before it writes anything, and installs without sudo. On macOS and Linux that is /usr/local/bin when it is writable and otherwise ~/.local/bin. On Windows it is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\conifer. It then opens conifer setup.
Updates
conifer update # download, verify, swap in; the old binary is kept for --rollback
conifer update --check # just reportThe same on all three platforms. A passive check runs at most once a day and prints one line when a newer release exists. CONIFER_UPDATE_CHECK=off silences it.
Per-platform notes
| Worth knowing | |
|---|---|
| macOS | Signed and notarized. If a browser download quarantines it, run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./conifer |
| Linux headless | Your key is stored in a file under ~/.conifer, so login works without a desktop session. For CI, set CONIFER_API_KEY in the environment instead. |
| Windows | Runs in PowerShell and cmd alike. The key lives in %USERPROFILE%\.conifer\credentials.json, or in Credential Manager with CONIFER_SECRETS_BACKEND=keychain. |