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Install

You need the codeflower app, and a container engine to run sandboxes: Docker or Podman on a workstation, Apptainer on a cluster. The VS Code extension is optional.

The app

Section titled “The app”
Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lutrarutra/codeflower-app/main/install.sh | sh

It installs codeflower into ~/.local/bin (Linux and macOS, Intel and ARM), and on a Linux desktop adds code flower to the applications menu. This also works on clusters, in your home directory.

The scripts check the release’s checksum and show a usage notice that you confirm with y. CODEFLOWER_INSTALL_DIR chooses another folder and CODEFLOWER_VERSION=vX.Y.Z another release.

The releases also have plain binaries (codeflower-<version>-<os>-<arch>.tar.gz, .zip on Windows). They are not signed yet: on Windows choose More info → Run anyway the first time.

A container engine

Section titled “A container engine”

code flower uses whichever engine it finds, in this order: Docker, Podman, Apptainer. Ask it what it sees:

Terminal window
codeflower check

It says which engines are ready, whether the sandbox image is downloaded, and how to set up what is missing. On a cluster, that usually means module load apptainer. See Container engines.

The VS Code extension (optional)

Section titled “The VS Code extension (optional)”
  1. Download codeflower-<version>.vsix from the extension’s releases.
  2. In VS Code: Extensions → ⋯ → Install from VSIX…, or:
    Terminal window
    code --install-extension codeflower-<version>.vsix

With Remote-SSH, VS Code installs it on the remote machine, where it connects to sandboxes on the cluster. See VS Code.

Updating

Section titled “Updating”
Terminal window
codeflower update          # download the latest release and replace this program
codeflower update --check  # only say whether there is a newer one

The macOS app updates by downloading the new .dmg. Each app release uses the sandbox image it was made for, and downloads it on first use. See Compatibility.

Uninstalling

Section titled “Uninstalling”

Delete the codeflower program (on Windows, its folder and the Start menu entry). Your projects stay in ~/codeflower, and the settings in ~/.codeflower. See Files and folders.