Install on Linux

This guide installs Typeward on Linux from the AppImage, the .deb, or the .rpm, and ends with the app running. For another platform, see Install on Windows or Install on macOS.

Requirements

• glibc 2.35 or newer. The Linux packages are built on Ubuntu 22.04, which sets that floor. It matters most for the AppImage, which carries no dependency metadata and fails to start on an older system.
• WebKitGTK 4.1. The .deb declares libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0, libgtk-3-0, and libdbus-1-3, so your distribution has to package WebKitGTK 4.1 for the install to resolve.
• An X11 or a Wayland session. Both work.
• No TeX distribution on x86_64. Those packages bundle the Tectonic engine, so LaTeX compiles without one. Typeward uses a TeX distribution instead when you have one installed.
• A TeX distribution on ARM64. The ARM64 packages ship without the Tectonic engine that the x86_64 packages carry, because upstream Tectonic has no build for every ARM target. A tectonic command you install yourself works too. See Choosing a compile engine.
• The typst command for Typst projects. No Linux package bundles it. See Typst projects.

Download and install

Every release attaches three package formats, each built for x86_64 and for ARM64. Pick the one your distribution uses.

Package	Distributions	Stable file name
AppImage	Most distributions, with nothing to install	Typeward-linux-x86_64.AppImage, or Typeward-linux-aarch64.AppImage on ARM64
.deb	Debian, Ubuntu, and derivatives	Typeward-linux-amd64.deb, or Typeward-linux-arm64.deb on ARM64
.rpm	Fedora, openSUSE, and other RPM-based distributions	None, so download the .rpm under its versioned name

Every package is also attached under its versioned file name, such as Typeward_<version>_amd64.deb, so a link to a particular release keeps working after a newer one is published.

1. On the Typeward releases page, download the package for your distribution and architecture.
2. Verify the file with the checksum and provenance checks in Verify your download.
3. Install the package with the steps for its format: Run the AppImage, Install the Debian package, or Install the RPM package.

Run the AppImage

1. Make the file executable with chmod +x Typeward-linux-x86_64.AppImage.
2. Start Typeward with ./Typeward-linux-x86_64.AppImage.

The AppImage is self-contained and runs from wherever you put it. It installs no desktop entry and registers no file types.

Install the Debian package

Install the package with apt, which resolves the dependencies the package declares on WebKitGTK, GTK, and D-Bus:

sudo apt install ./Typeward-linux-amd64.deb

Install the RPM package

Install the versioned .rpm with your package manager:

sudo dnf install ./<file>.rpm

On openSUSE, use sudo zypper install ./<file>.rpm. If your package manager reports a missing WebKitGTK, install your distribution’s WebKitGTK 4.1 package and run the command again.

Set Typeward as the default editor

The .deb and the .rpm install a desktop entry, so Typeward appears in your application menu. Both register three file types: .tex (LaTeX Source, text/x-tex), .typ (Typst Source, text/x-typst), and .bib (BibTeX Bibliography, text/x-bibtex). Opening one of those files from your file manager launches Typeward with the file, or hands it to the running window when Typeward is already open.

Registering the types does not always make Typeward the default application for them. If your file manager still opens .tex files somewhere else, set Typeward as the default from your file manager’s Open With dialog.

Verify your download

Every release attaches a SHA256SUMS file listing the checksum of every asset. A matching checksum proves the file was not corrupted or swapped in transit.

1. Download SHA256SUMS from the same release into the folder holding your package.
2. Check what you downloaded with sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing, which prints OK for every file that matches.

If a file fails, delete it and download it again. Never run it.

Each asset also carries a GitHub build-provenance attestation. With the GitHub CLI installed, this command confirms the file came out of the release workflow in the Typeward source repository:

gh attestation verify Typeward-linux-x86_64.AppImage --repo typeward/app

Unsigned packages

Typeward packages are not signed, so the checksum and the attestation are what establish that a file is the one that was released. Open source and licensing explains why the builds are unsigned. Every release repeats both checks in a “Verify your download” section of its release notes, and a release that goes out unsigned says so there as well.

Check that it worked

You should now see the Typeward window, which starts with the first-run setup on a new installation.

If Typeward does not start:

1. Start Typeward from a terminal, so that any startup error is printed rather than lost.
2. Check that your glibc is 2.35 or newer with ldd --version.
3. For the AppImage, check that your distribution provides FUSE 2, which Debian and Ubuntu package as libfuse2. AppImages mount themselves with FUSE.
4. For the .deb or the .rpm, check that your distribution’s WebKitGTK 4.1 package is installed.

Set up a keyring for integration credentials

Typeward has no account and no sign-in, so nothing about the app itself needs a keyring. The system keyring, reached through the Secret Service D-Bus API, holds a credential only when you connect an optional integration that has one to store:

• A WebDAV password for cloud sync
• A Zotero Web API key, or a Mendeley client secret and token, for reference managers
• An API key for a cloud AI provider

GNOME desktops get Secret Service from gnome-keyring, and KDE Plasma gets it from KWallet, so nothing needs setting up there. Minimal and window-manager setups (i3, Sway, and similar) often run no keyring service at all. To store integration credentials on one of those, install and start gnome-keyring or KWallet.

Without a keyring the rest of the app is unaffected: editing, compiling, preview, templates, autosave, and version history all work. Git in Typeward works too, because git remotes use your own git credential helper and never the app keyring. When no Secret Service provider is available, saving a credential fails with a clear error instead of succeeding quietly. Typeward never falls back to writing secrets into a file.

The keyring may ask you to unlock it the first time Typeward stores or uses a credential. That prompt comes from your desktop environment, not from Typeward. Entries are named typeward.<provider>, so you can find and delete them in Seahorse, KWalletManager, or secret-tool.

Updating

Current builds do not update themselves. The built-in updater is dormant, and a manual check under Settings → About shows the toast Updates aren’t configured yet.

To update:

1. Download the newer package from the Typeward releases page.
2. Install it the way you installed the first one.

Apt and your RPM package manager upgrade the existing install in place, and an AppImage takes the update when you overwrite the file. Your projects, settings, and version history are untouched by any of this. See How updates work.

Uninstalling

Remove the .deb or the .rpm with your package manager, or delete the AppImage file. Uninstalling leaves your projects where they are. Typeward creates new projects in a Typeward folder inside your Documents folder, which is ~/Documents/Typeward on a default setup and on a system without xdg-user-dirs. When xdg-user-dirs names another folder as Documents, the Typeward folder sits inside that one.

Uninstalling also leaves the app data in ~/.local/share/com.typeward.app, the window state in ~/.config/com.typeward.app, and every typeward.<provider> entry you stored in the keyring. See Data locations, credentials, and uninstall.

Next steps

• Your first project: create a project and compile your first PDF.
• Choosing a compile engine: how Typeward picks between a TeX distribution you have installed and the bundled Tectonic engine.
• Build from source: build Typeward yourself instead of installing a package.