Install

The Mac app

Paste this into Terminal:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/devlato/claudius/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

It installs Claudius into Applications, and its command-line programs into ~/.local/bin. It runs on Macs with Apple silicon or Intel and macOS 11 or later, and opening it opens the studio.

You can also download the disk image for your Mac from the latest release: claudius-<version>-aarch64-apple-darwin.dmg for Apple silicon, claudius-<version>-x86_64-apple-darwin.dmg for Intel (the Apple menu, About This Mac, says which you have). Open it, and drag Claudius onto Applications. Until the releases are signed with an Apple Developer ID, though, macOS refuses an app downloaded in a browser the first time: ““Claudius” Not Opened. Apple could not verify “Claudius” is free of malware”. Click Done, open System Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll down to the line about Claudius, and click Open Anyway. macOS asks once more, and then remembers. The command above avoids all this, because macOS checks only what a browser downloads, and curl is not one.

The first time the studio starts, it downloads its listening models by itself and offers to download the sample packs (below). To connect Claude, Cursor or Codex, use ?, Connect an assistant in the studio. Move the app into Applications first: an app opened from its disk image, or from Downloads, runs from a copy macOS takes away again, and claudius will not connect an assistant to it. The app holds the command-line programs too. The command above links them into ~/.local/bin; after dragging the app in yourself, link them like this to use them in a terminal:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
ln -s /Applications/Claudius.app/Contents/MacOS/Claudius ~/.local/bin/claudius
ln -s /Applications/Claudius.app/Contents/MacOS/claudius-packs ~/.local/bin/claudius-packs

Linux packages

Every release has packages for x86_64 and ARM64 Linux with glibc 2.38 or newer (Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 39 and later). Each puts the programs in /usr/bin, the web studio in /usr/share/claudius/web, and Claudius in your desktop’s app menu, which opens the studio. Download the one for your system from the latest release:

sudo apt install ./claudius-<version>-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.deb    # Debian, Ubuntu
sudo dnf install ./claudius-<version>-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.rpm    # Fedora and its relatives

or the AppImage, which needs no installing: make it executable (chmod +x claudius-*.AppImage), then open it to start the studio, or run it with a command, ./claudius-<version>-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.AppImage make --genre lofi. It needs FUSE to run, as every AppImage does, and ALSA for the studio’s sound.

The command line: macOS and Linux

curl -fsSL https://github.com/devlato/claudius/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

The script comes with every release, next to the archives, and is in the release’s checksums. It downloads the latest release for your computer from GitHub, checks it against the published SHA-256 sums, and installs it. On Linux that is under ~/.local: the programs claudius and claudius-packs in ~/.local/bin, and the web studio in ~/.local/share/claudius/web. On a Mac it is the app, in /Applications (or ~/Applications when you cannot write to /Applications), with ~/.local/bin/claudius and claudius-packs as links into it; --no-app installs the programs and the web studio under ~/.local instead, as on Linux. It tells you if ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH yet.

When you run it in a terminal, it offers to download the sounds and the ears straight away (below). To do that without being asked, pass --yes:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/devlato/claudius/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh -s -- --yes

Run as root, it installs the programs and leaves the downloads for later: the packs are archives from other sites, so run claudius setup as the user who makes the music.

CLAUDIUS_INSTALL_DIR puts the programs in another folder (the web studio goes next to it, in ../share/claudius/web), CLAUDIUS_APP_DIR puts the Mac app in another folder, and CLAUDIUS_VERSION=0.1.0 installs a specific release.

Windows

Windows is a preview: its build has no ears yet, so verdicts use meters and music theory.

Download claudius-<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.msi from the latest release and run it. It needs no administrator: it installs claudius for you in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\claudius, adds its programs to your PATH, and puts Claudius in the Start menu, which opens the studio. The installer is not signed yet, so SmartScreen may say Windows protected your PC: click More info, then Run anyway. Settings, Apps, removes it again.

Or install the programs only, in PowerShell:

irm https://github.com/devlato/claudius/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

The sounds and the ears

The programs are small. The sounds and the listening models are downloaded once, when you agree to it:

claudius setup

The studio offers the same download of the packs when they are missing, and downloads the models by itself the first time it starts. Each model file is checked against a pinned SHA-256 hash. Without the packs, claudius synthesizes every sound; without the models, the verdict uses meters and music theory only. claudius setup --help lists the options, and claudius-packs list shows every pack with its licence.

claudius uses Apple Loops automatically when GarageBand or Logic content is installed. ffmpeg is optional: with it, songs are also saved as MP3.

Check the installation

claudius doctor

claudius 0.1.0 (macos aarch64)
  ok  web studio      ~/.local/share/claudius/web
  ok  sample packs    14 default packs (1.2 GB) in ~/Library/Application Support/claudius/packs
  ok  ears            models in ~/.cache/earshot-rs
  ok  Apple Loops     14096 loops and samples
  ok  ffmpeg          9.0.2 (writes song.mp3)
  ok  port 7878       free
  ..  Claude Desktop  not connected: `claudius connect claude-desktop`
  ..  statistics      off (`claudius telemetry` explains them)

Everything claudius needs is here.

From source

You need Rust (the version in rust-toolchain.toml; rustup picks it up) and, for the web studio, trunk.

git clone https://github.com/devlato/claudius
cd claudius
cargo install --locked --path crates/claudius-cli
cargo install --locked --path crates/claudius-packs
cargo xtask web          # builds the web studio into crates/claudius-ui/dist
claudius setup

A claudius built from a checkout finds the web studio in that checkout. The development setup covers everything else.

Uninstall

The Mac app: drag Claudius from Applications to the Bin, and delete the links in ~/.local/bin (rm ~/.local/bin/claudius ~/.local/bin/claudius-packs). The command-line install:

rm ~/.local/bin/claudius ~/.local/bin/claudius-packs
rm -r ~/.local/share/claudius/web

The sample packs, the models and the caches are kept, so that reinstalling does not download them again. To remove them too, delete the packs folder claudius doctor shows (~/Library/Application Support/claudius/packs on macOS, ~/.local/share/claudius/packs on Linux), ~/.cache/earshot-rs, and ~/Library/Caches/claudius (~/.cache/claudius on Linux). Songs you saved stay in ~/Music/claudius.