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The desktop app wraps Nora as a native window on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It manages the Docker stack for you and drops you straight into the Nora SPA once the stack is up — no separate browser tab, no docker compose incantations to remember.

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Downloads

Grab the latest build from the platform’s releases page and pick the file for your platform.
Current builds are unsigned. Nothing about the binary is broken — the OS just asks once on first launch. Follow the platform steps below and you’ll only see the prompt once.

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Prerequisites

Before you launch the app, make sure the host has:
  • Docker. Docker Desktop on macOS or Windows, or Docker Engine plus the Compose plugin on Linux. The app shells out to docker compose on your behalf, so a working Docker install is required. See the Docker download page.
  • Around 15 GB of free disk — enough for the container images and the Postgres data volume.
  • 4 GB of RAM available to Docker. 8 GB is more comfortable if you plan to keep flows running in the background.

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First launch

  1. Open the .dmg and drag Nora.app into Applications.
  2. Open Applications, right-click on Nora.app, and choose Open.
  3. macOS shows “macOS cannot verify the developer of Nora”. Click Open.
  4. On macOS 14 and later, the right-click bypass can still be blocked. If it is:
    • Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
    • Scroll to the bottom for “Nora was blocked to protect your Mac” and click Open Anyway.
    • When the dialog reappears, click Open.
  5. From this point on, Nora.app opens with a normal double-click.

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Where things get placed

Once the app is open, it lays out a few things on the host:
  • The app binary lives at /Applications/Nora.app on macOS, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Nora on Windows, or wherever you saved the AppImage on Linux.
  • The Docker stack config lives under ~/.nora/onprem/. On first launch, the app writes docker-compose.yml and .env.onprem here (both bundled inside the app). It generates a random Postgres password for you, so you don’t have to edit anything before you click [Install Nora].
  • The Docker volumes are nora-onprem_pgdata and nora-onprem_qdrantdata. They’re normal Docker volumes and show up in docker volume ls.
  • The container images land in your usual Docker image store on first install.

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Next

First launch

Walk through the install wizard, the tray icon, and the SPA handoff.

Settings

License key, host port, reset, and full uninstall.

Updates

Check for updates online, or import an offline update tarball.

Docker Compose

The same compose file, run directly on a server.