GitHub Desktop - The Linux Fork (desktop-drac)

GitHub Desktop is an open-source Electron-based GitHub app. It is written in TypeScript and uses React.

desktop-drac is a community-maintained Linux fork, originally based on shiftkey/desktop (no longer actively maintained), now synced directly with the official desktop/desktop upstream.

A screenshot of the GitHub Desktop Dracula Theme

A screenshot of the GitHub Desktop application showing changes being viewed and committed with two attributed co-authors

Installation

Debian/Ubuntu (APT)

# Import GPG key
curl -fsSL https://xi72yow.github.io/desktop-drac/pubkey.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/desktop-drac.gpg

# Add repository
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/desktop-drac.gpg] https://xi72yow.github.io/desktop-drac stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/desktop-drac.list

# Install
sudo apt update && sudo apt install github-desktop

Updates are delivered via sudo apt upgrade.

AppImage

Download the latest .AppImage from the Releases page.

chmod +x GitHubDesktop-linux-x86_64-*.AppImage
./GitHubDesktop-linux-x86_64-*.AppImage

Available Packages

Format	Architecture	Description
`.deb`	amd64	Debian/Ubuntu package
`.AppImage`	x86_64	Portable, runs on any Linux distro

Known Issues

If you’re having troubles with Desktop, please refer to the Known issues document for guidance and workarounds for common limitations.

Building from Source

# Prerequisites: Node.js 24.x, libsecret-1-dev, Python 3.11+
node vendor/yarn-1.21.1.js install
node vendor/yarn-1.21.1.js build:prod
node vendor/yarn-1.21.1.js run package

See agents.md for a detailed build log and development notes.

More Information

Please check out the upstream GitHub Desktop project and desktop.github.com for more product-oriented information about GitHub Desktop.

See the getting started documentation for more information on how to set up, authenticate, and configure GitHub Desktop.

License

MIT

The MIT license grant is not for GitHub’s trademarks, which include the logo designs. GitHub reserves all trademark and copyright rights in and to all GitHub trademarks. GitHub’s logos include, for instance, the stylized Invertocat designs that include “logo” in the file title in the following folder: logos.

GitHub® and its stylized versions and the Invertocat mark are GitHub’s Trademarks or registered Trademarks. When using GitHub’s logos, be sure to follow the GitHub logo guidelines.