Last updated: June 2025

GitKraken Desktop is a graphical Git client designed to make version control easier for developers, builders, and teams.

There are three simple steps to get started with GitKraken Desktop:

No Git command-line tools are required. Once you run the installer, you can open the app and start working with your repositories.

If you want to use advanced features such as the terminal, experimental tools, or Git LFS, we recommend you download Git from git-scm.com .

Below are platform-specific installation instructions and system requirements.

Looking for GitKraken On-Premise Self-Hosted installation instructions? Please begin with our On-Premise System Requirements page.

Windows (.exe file)

System requirements: Windows 10+

Install Instructions

In your terminal, run the following:

Double-click the downloaded executable file. A splash screen will appear while GitKraken Desktop is installed. The application will automatically start when installation completes.

Windows Data Location

GitKraken Desktop data is stored in your user profile directory at:

C:Users{user}AppDataRoaming.gitkraken

macOS (.dmg file)

System requirements:

Intel: macOS 10.15+

Apple Silicon: macOS 11+

Download GitKraken Desktop for macOS

Install Instructions

Double-click the downloaded DMG file. When prompted, drag and drop the GitKraken icon into your Applications folder.

macOS Data Location

GitKraken Desktop data is stored in:

/Users/{user}/.gitkraken

or using the shorthand:

~/.gitkraken

Linux (.deb, .rpm, .tar.gz, Snap)

System requirements:

Note 📝 – GitKraken Desktop officially supports Ubuntu 18.04+ LTS, RHEL 8+, and Fedora 39+. While it may run on other distributions, compatibility is not guaranteed.

.deb Installation

In your terminal, run:

wget https://release.gitkraken.com/linux/gitkraken-amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./gitkraken-amd64.deb

Or download the .deb installation package .

.rpm Installation

wget https://release.gitkraken.com/linux/gitkraken-amd64.rpm
sudo dnf install ./gitkraken-amd64.rpm

Or download the .rpm installation package .

For older distributions without dnf , use yum instead.

.tar.gz Installation

wget https://release.gitkraken.com/linux/gitkraken-amd64.tar.gz
sudo tar -xvzf gitkraken-amd64.tar.gz

Or download the .tar.gz archive .

Snap Installation

Install GitKraken from Snapcraft.io .

Linux Data Location

GitKraken Desktop data is stored in:

/home/{user}/.gitkraken

~/.gitkraken

WSL Support

To use GitKraken Desktop with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), refer to our WSL setup guide .

Launching GitKraken Desktop

Once installed, launch GitKraken Desktop as follows:

gitkraken

You’re now ready to start using GitKraken! For help getting started with repositories, branches, and remotes, check out the Getting Started Guide .