Desktop app (Mac and Windows)

The desktop app opens your Synq panel in its own window: the panel you already use in the browser, for example https://panel.example.com, with your servers, projects and team. You sign in with your normal email, password and two-factor code, and the app keeps you signed in.

It is only a window onto the panel. Nothing of Synq runs on your computer, and your servers and projects stay on the panel. To run Synq itself, install it on a server.

The app is a free download and needs no install key.

What you need

• A Synq panel to sign in to, and your login for it: the address the installer printed, such as https://panel.example.com.
• A Mac with macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer, Apple Silicon (M1 and later) or Intel, or
• A Windows PC with 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. Windows on Arm runs the same build under its x64 emulation.

Download

Open the download page and click the download for your computer. The page puts the build that matches your computer first when your browser says which one it is; the others are listed under it. To see which Mac you have, open the Apple menu > About This Mac: Chip: Apple M… is Apple Silicon, Processor: Intel is Intel.

Each file has a SHA-256 checksum beside it on the site (the same name with .sha256 added), if you want to check your download.

If you have the Synq CLI, synq install does the same from a terminal: it downloads the latest build for your computer from the site, checks it against its .sha256 file (and refuses to install on a mismatch or a missing checksum), installs it and opens it. synq install --version 1.2.3 picks an older version the site still has. There is no Linux build; on Linux, use your panel in a browser.

First launch on a Mac

The app isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, so macOS blocks it the first time you open it.

1. Open the .dmg and drag Synq onto Applications.
2. Open Synq from Applications. macOS says it can't check the app; click Done (or Cancel).
3. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message that Synq was blocked, click Open Anyway and confirm with your password.

Or clear the download flag in Terminal, then open Synq as usual:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Synq.app

You do this once. Updates the app installs itself are not blocked again.

First launch on Windows

1. Right-click the .zip and choose Extract All. Extract it to a folder you keep, for example %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Synq, not to a temporary folder, and don't run the app from inside the zip.
2. Open the folder and run Synq.exe.
3. The app isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen says Windows protected your PC. Click More info, then Run anyway.

To start it from the Start menu, right-click Synq.exe and choose Pin to Start (on Windows 11, under Show more options). There is no installer yet: the app is the folder.

Connect to your Synq panel

The first time you open the app it shows Connect to your Synq panel:

1. Type your panel's address in the address field, replacing anything already there (for example panel.example.com; https:// is added for you).
2. Click Connect. The app checks that the address answers as a Synq panel before it opens it:
   • Couldn't reach ...: the address is wrong, or this computer is offline or can't reach it.
   • That address isn't a Synq panel: something answered, but it isn't Synq (check the address), or the panel's API is down.
3. The panel's sign-in page opens. Sign in as you do in the browser, with two-factor if your account has it.

The address must use https://. Plain http:// only works for a panel on the same computer (localhost), for development.

The window title shows which panel you are connected to, and so does Synq > About Synq on a Mac. Links to other sites (docs, your deployed apps) open in your default browser. Signing in with GitHub or Google, and connecting GitHub, happen inside the app so they return to the panel signed in. The panel gets no access to your computer beyond copying to the clipboard.

Switch panels or sign out

Use the app menu: on a Mac, Synq in the menu bar; on Windows, press Alt in the panel window to show the File menu.

• Switch Panel / Change Connection… goes back to the first screen, where you can enter another panel's address. You stay signed in to the panel you were using; connecting to it again doesn't ask you to sign in.
• Sign Out of This Panel… signs you out and clears what the app stored for the panel (cookies and site data). The next time, you sign in again.
• Check for Updates… asks synquic.tech for a newer version of the app.

Updates

When the app starts, it checks https://synquic.tech for a newer version (no key or account involved). If there is one, a small window offers it: Update now installs it, Later skips that version until you ask with Check for Updates… in the app menu. Updates come from synquic.tech whichever panel the app is connected to. (The panel's own Settings > Updates is about the panel's server, not this app.)

Update now downloads the new version from synquic.tech only and checks it against the SHA-256 checksum published with it before anything is changed:

• Mac: the new version replaces the app in Applications and Synq restarts.
• Windows: the new .zip is saved to your Downloads folder and shown in Explorer. Quit Synq, extract it, and replace the contents of your Synq folder with it. Your panel sign-in is kept.

Updating from version 1.2.5 or earlier

Versions up to 1.2.5 needed an install key and could also run a separate Synq on your computer or install one on a server over SSH. Later versions only connect to a Synq panel:

• An older app still updates itself as before; the key it sends is simply ignored now.
• If the app was running Synq on your computer, it opens on the connect screen after the update, with a note that the data of that local Synq is still on your computer. The app doesn't use or change it. To keep anything from it, run version 1.2.5 again and use Settings > Instance > Export / Import data; otherwise delete it.
• A saved install key is no longer read. It is removed with the rest of the app's data (below).

Where your data is

Everything the app stores (its settings and your panel sign-in, and from versions up to 1.2.5 the local Synq's database and the encrypted install key) is in one folder:

Replacing or removing the app doesn't touch it. The local Synq that versions up to 1.2.5 could run kept its database in the data folder inside it.

Uninstall

Mac: quit Synq (Synq > Quit Synq), then drag Synq from Applications to the Trash. To remove your data too, including the data of a local Synq from version 1.2.5 or earlier:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Synq

If you used an install key with an older version, also delete the Synq Safe Storage item in Keychain Access.

Windows: quit Synq, then delete its folder. To remove your data too, delete %APPDATA%\Synq (paste it into the Explorer address bar).

Troubleshooting