Desktop App

RunEnv Desktop is the native app for people who need to pull, compare, review, and share environment access without staying in a browser or terminal.

Use Desktop when you want a guided workspace for QA, PM, support, or operations workflows. Use the CLI when you need strict zero-disk runtime injection in a development command or CI job.

Availability

The public desktop download paths are macOS and Windows. macOS releases are published through the RunEnv Homebrew tap release channel, and Windows installers are published through the Windows desktop release channel.

Install

macOS

RunEnv Desktop supports macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Install with Homebrew:

brew tap Jambo-company/tap
brew install --cask runenv

Update with Homebrew:

brew update
brew upgrade --cask runenv

If Homebrew cannot find the newest build, refresh the tap and reinstall:

brew update
brew reinstall --cask Jambo-company/tap/runenv

Manual downloads are available from the macOS releases page.

Windows

RunEnv Desktop supports Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Install with WinGet:

winget install JamboCompany.RunEnv

Update with WinGet:

winget upgrade JamboCompany.RunEnv

If WinGet cannot find the package or your organization blocks WinGet, download the latest .exe installer from the Windows releases page.

Sign In

The recommended sign-in path is browser login:

Open RunEnv Desktop.
Select Sign In with Browser.
Complete login in the RunEnv web dashboard.
Return to Desktop when the app receives the login token.

You can also paste a token manually if your organization requires token-based desktop access. Tokens are stored separately from normal settings and encrypted with the operating system storage layer.

For self-hosted RunEnv, open Settings and set the server URL to your RunEnv web/API origin, for example:

https://runenv.example.com

Desktop clients always communicate through the RunEnv Next.js API. They do not connect directly to the database.

Main Workflows

Pull and Compare

The Pull and Compare workbench is the primary QA workflow.

Use it to:

Select a project and environment pair, such as staging and production.
Compare key-level drift with values redacted.
Review recent audit context before acting.
Restore an environment from a snapshot when your role has write and snapshot-management permission.

Compare and rollback actions are sent through the API and recorded as Desktop audit events.

Secrets Workspace

The Secrets workspace is for day-to-day environment work.

You can:

List secrets without writing them to a file.
Download server values into a selected .env file.
Open a terminal session with secrets injected as environment variables.
Compare a local .env file against server values.
Preview an upload before changing server values.
Upload local values to the server when you have write access.
Roll back server values from a saved snapshot.

Zero-disk behavior

Opening a terminal session injects secrets into the process environment without writing a .env file. Downloading to a file, offline cache, and rollback snapshots intentionally create local files so non-terminal workflows can work. Use terminal sessions when you require zero-disk runtime injection.

QA Sessions

Engineers can create short-lived Desktop handoff links for QA, PM, or stakeholder users.

The recipient opens the link in RunEnv Desktop, signs in, and claims access to the scoped session. Secret and shared credential values are not included in list responses; they are loaded only through item-level reveal or copy actions.

QA session tokens are not stored by the server in plaintext. The server stores a SHA-256 hash and token prefix, and the full handoff link is shown only when it is created.

Activity and Audit

The Activity view shows:

Local Desktop actions.
Server audit logs when signed in.
A timeline filtered by sync actions and errors.
Offline queue entries waiting to retry.

This is the first place to check when a pull, upload, compare, or rollback does not behave as expected.

Settings

Settings covers:

Account status and sign out.
Server URL for hosted or self-hosted RunEnv.
Language selection.
Stable or beta update channel.
Manual update checks.
Project and environment presets.
Upload approval requirements.

Desktop supports English, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Javanese, and Swahili.

Storage and Security

RunEnv Desktop stores app data under:

~/.runenv-desktop/

Important files:

Path	Purpose	Secret handling
`config.json`	Server URL, project, environment, locale, and preferences	No auth token
`token.bin`	Desktop auth token	Encrypted with OS-backed `safeStorage`
`cache/*.json`	Last synced values for offline list, pull, and diff	Local cache file
`snapshots/*.json`	Rollback snapshots created before upload	Local snapshot file
`activity-log.json`	Local action history	Local audit context
`offline-queue.json`	Queued upload or rollback actions	Local queue file

The desktop app refuses insecure plaintext token fallback. If OS-backed encryption is unavailable, token storage fails instead of silently saving the token in plaintext.

Updates

Packaged standard builds can check for updates inside the app. Desktop waits before checking in the background, does not auto-download silently, and asks before restarting to install.

Package-manager installs are updated by the package manager:

brew upgrade --cask runenv

winget upgrade JamboCompany.RunEnv

Auto-updates are disabled in local development builds and Mac App Store builds. Mac App Store builds are updated through the App Store.

Troubleshooting

The page or app says Desktop is not configured

Open Settings and confirm the server URL points to your RunEnv web/API origin. Hosted RunEnv uses:

https://runenv.dev

Self-hosted deployments should use your own HTTPS hostname.

Browser login does not return to the app

Keep Desktop open, then try browser login again. If your browser blocks the deep link, use the manual token option or ask your administrator to confirm that the app protocol is allowed on your device.

No projects or environments appear

Confirm that your RunEnv account belongs to the right organization and has access to the project. Desktop only shows projects and environments returned by the API for your authenticated user.

Downloaded secrets are not used by my app

Check the selected file path. The app that reads the .env file must be pointed at the same path Desktop wrote.

For zero-disk usage, use Open Terminal instead of Download to File.

Upload or rollback is disabled

Your role may not have write or snapshot-management permission. Some teams also require an approver name and ticket ID before upload.

Desktop shows Offline

Check the network and server URL. Desktop can still use cached data for list, pull, and diff workflows, and it can queue supported write actions until connectivity returns.

Homebrew shows an old version

Refresh Homebrew metadata:

brew update
brew reinstall --cask Jambo-company/tap/runenv

WinGet cannot find RunEnv

Use the Windows releases page and install the latest .exe manually. If your organization manages app installs, ask your administrator whether WinGet is enabled for third-party packages.

FAQ

Does Desktop replace the CLI?

No. Desktop is optimized for interactive pull, compare, audit, rollback, and QA handoff workflows. The CLI remains the best fit for terminal-first development, automation, and CI.

Does Desktop write secrets to disk?

It depends on the action. Terminal sessions are designed for zero-disk runtime injection. Download-to-file, offline cache, and rollback snapshots intentionally write local files because those workflows need persistence.

Can non-engineers use Desktop?

Yes. QA sessions let engineers share scoped, short-lived access to PM, QA, or stakeholder users without requiring CLI commands.

Can Desktop work with self-hosted RunEnv?

Yes. Set the Desktop server URL to your self-hosted RunEnv web/API origin in Settings.

Where do I get the latest installer?

Use the public release pages: