Installing, updating and removing

Knightbook is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. It is free, and you do not need an account, Node or any developer tools to run it. This guide covers choosing the right download, installing it, updating it by hand, and removing it.

How much of this has been checked. The Windows and macOS installers have not yet been tried on a clean computer. The published Linux package for 0.2.0 has been installed, opened, reinstalled, upgraded and removed in a fresh test machine running Ubuntu 24.04 without a desktop, on 2026-10-22. Anything marked Not yet checked describes what the installer is built to do, not something anyone has watched it do. This guide is updated as each system is checked.

Choosing a download

Every installer is on the download page, and each release lists its files on GitHub. Pick the one for your computer:

Your computer	File	Supported versions
Windows, 64-bit	the Windows installer (`.exe`)	Windows 10 and later
Mac with Apple silicon (M1 and later)	the Apple silicon disk image (`.dmg`)	macOS 13 Ventura and later
Mac with an Intel processor	the Intel disk image (`.dmg`)	macOS 13 Ventura and later
Linux, 64-bit, Debian or Ubuntu	the `.deb` package	current releases still maintained by the distribution

The file names say the version, the system and the processor:

Knightbook-<version>-windows-x64.exe
Knightbook-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg for Apple silicon
Knightbook-<version>-macos-x64.dmg for Intel
Knightbook-<version>-linux-amd64.deb

To tell which Mac you have, open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac. A line reading Chip followed by Apple M-something is Apple silicon; a line reading Processor followed by Intel is an Intel Mac.

There are no builds for Windows or Linux on Arm processors, and no AppImage, rpm or Flatpak. The supported versions follow the version of Electron that Knightbook is built on; when an upgrade drops an older system, the release notes say so.

Checking the download

Each release also has a SHA256SUMS.txt file listing a checksum for every installer. To confirm a file arrived intact, compute its checksum and compare it with the line for that file:

Windows (PowerShell): Get-FileHash .\Knightbook-<version>-windows-x64.exe
macOS: shasum -a 256 Knightbook-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg
Linux: sha256sum Knightbook-<version>-linux-amd64.deb

If the checksums differ, do not open the file. Download it again, and if it still differs, report it.

Windows

Installing

Run Knightbook-<version>-windows-x64.exe.

The installer is not signed yet, so Windows does not know who published it and may warn before running it, typically with a blue Windows protected your PC screen. Not yet checked: the exact warning has not been recorded. This guide does not give steps for getting past the warning; whether to run an unsigned installer is your decision. If the checksum differs, or the warning says anything other than that the publisher is unknown, such as that the file contains a virus, stop and report it.

Not yet checked: the installer asks no questions and needs no administrator rights. It installs Knightbook for your Windows account only, adds it to the Start menu and the desktop, and opens it when it finishes.

Where it goes

Not yet checked:

The app goes in AppData\Local\Programs\Knightbook in your user folder.
Its settings go in AppData\Roaming\Knightbook.
The MCP configuration that Knightbook copies for your AI tool names the resources\mcp\node.exe file inside the app’s folder.

First launch

Not yet checked on Windows: Knightbook opens to Choose a project folder. Choose any folder you work in, such as a code repository. If it has no Knightbook board yet, choose Set up this folder. That adds one folder, .projectspace/, and leaves your files as they are. Projects and documents explains what it holds.

macOS

Installing

Not yet checked: open the disk image for your Mac, drag Knightbook into the Applications folder, then eject the disk image.

The app is not signed with an Apple developer certificate or notarized by Apple yet, so macOS will not open it straight away the first time. Not yet checked: the message macOS shows has not been recorded on either kind of Mac. This guide does not give steps for getting past it; whether to open an unsigned app is your decision. Do not turn off Gatekeeper or other protections for the whole Mac to run Knightbook. If macOS says the app is damaged, report it.

The Intel build has not been opened on an Intel Mac yet.

Where it goes

Not yet checked:

The app is /Applications/Knightbook.app.
Its settings go in ~/Library/Application Support/Knightbook.
The MCP configuration names Contents/Resources/mcp/node inside the app.

First launch

Not yet checked on a Mac: the same as on Windows, Choose a project folder, then Set up this folder if it has no board yet.

Linux

Installing

Install the package with apt, which also installs the system libraries Knightbook needs:

sudo apt install ./Knightbook-<version>-linux-amd64.deb

Keep the ./, which tells apt you mean a file rather than a package by that name. Installing with dpkg -i instead stops with the package half installed when a library is missing, so use apt.

The 0.2.0 package does not ask for the sound library, libasound2t64; the next release’s package does, so apt installs it for you. A desktop install of Ubuntu already has it, but on a minimal system Knightbook 0.2.0 does not start and knightbook in a terminal reports libasound.so.2: cannot open shared object file. Install it, then open Knightbook again:

sudo apt install libasound2t64

On Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22.04 the package is called libasound2.

The package is not signed. In the test, apt installed it without any warning about the publisher, so the checksum is your check that the file is the one published.

Where it goes

The app goes in /opt/Knightbook, and the package is called knightbook.
It adds the command knightbook, and a launcher named Knightbook, in the Development category, for your applications menu. Not yet checked: how it shows in a real desktop’s menu.
Its settings go in ~/.config/Knightbook.
The MCP configuration names /opt/Knightbook/resources/mcp/node. That path stays the same when you update, so the configuration you copied keeps working.

First launch

Open Knightbook from your applications menu. It opens to Choose a project folder, which opens your desktop’s folder chooser; then Set up this folder if the folder has no board yet. In the test machine, on a virtual display, the window did this, and Claude Code connected to the app’s MCP server with no Node installed, with the app open and with it closed. Not yet checked: a real desktop such as GNOME or KDE.

Updating

Knightbook has no updater yet. It does not check for new versions or tell you about them, and nothing is downloaded in the background. You update by installing the new version over the old one. To hear about new releases, watch the releases on GitHub, or check the releases page.

Find the version you have. In the app, open a project, then Settings with the gear at the top right; the version is under About. Without the app open: on Windows, look for Knightbook under Settings, Apps, Installed apps (not yet checked). On macOS, open the Knightbook menu and choose About Knightbook (not yet checked). On Linux, run dpkg -s knightbook and read the Version line.
Back up your projects. Your projects are your own folders, and updating does not touch them, but a copy costs little. If a project is in Git, commit it, including .projectspace/. Otherwise copy the folder somewhere safe.
Quit Knightbook, and any AI tool connected to it. Then nothing is running from the installed files while they are replaced.
Install the new version the same way you installed the first one. On Windows, run the new installer. On macOS, drag the new app into Applications and choose Replace. On Linux, run the same apt install command with the new file. In the Linux test, apt replaced the old version in place, and the settings and the MCP configuration saved in Claude Code kept working. Not yet checked on Windows and macOS.
Reconnect your AI tool. The app stays in the same place, so the configuration you copied before should still be right. Restart the AI tool so it starts the new version’s server: one already running keeps the old one. If Knightbook’s MCP status, at the bottom of the window, reports a problem, copy the configuration again from there and replace the one in your AI tool.
Open your project and check that the board and documents look as you left them.

Going back to an older version, by installing it over a newer one, has not been checked on any system.

Removing Knightbook

Removing the app

Windows: Settings, Apps, Installed apps, then Knightbook and Uninstall. Not yet checked: this removes the app’s folder and leaves its settings.
macOS: quit Knightbook and drag it from Applications to the Trash. Not yet checked: its settings stay.
Linux: sudo apt remove knightbook. In the Linux test this removed /opt/Knightbook, the knightbook command and the applications menu entry. sudo apt purge knightbook removed nothing more: the settings in your home folder stayed in both cases.

What stays: the app’s settings

Removing the app leaves its settings folder (AppData\Roaming\Knightbook, ~/Library/Application Support/Knightbook or ~/.config/Knightbook). It holds your recent projects, the colour scheme, the window’s size and place, which projects AI tools may reach, and the browser caches the app uses. It holds no project content. Delete the folder yourself if you want it gone.

Two things outside Knightbook also stay, because they belong to your AI tools and the uninstaller does not know about them (not yet checked on any system):

the Knightbook entry in each AI tool’s MCP configuration, which now names a program that is gone. Remove it in that tool.
the workflow skill, if you installed it with Set up your AI tool, in folders such as ~/.claude/skills/projectspace or a project’s .claude/skills/. Delete them if you no longer want them.

What stays: your projects

Removing Knightbook does not touch your project folders (seen on Linux; not yet checked on Windows and macOS). Each keeps its .projectspace/ folder with its tickets, plans and review history, as plain Markdown. In the Linux test, a project created before removing was still there, with its ticket, afterwards. If you want a project’s board gone too, delete its .projectspace/ folder yourself.

If something looks wrong

If the installer will not run, start with Troubleshooting. Otherwise, or if you see a warning this guide does not describe, report it with the bug report form. Say which system and version you are on, which file you downloaded, and the exact words of any message, or a screenshot of it. Issues are public, so read what to include and what never to post first.