Installation

GUI — Desktop Application

Download the installer for your platform from the releases page:

After installing, see Troubleshooting if macOS blocks the app from opening.

CLI — Command Line

For most users, Cargo install is the recommended path.

Option 1 — Install with Cargo (recommended)

cargo install hydra-cli

Requires Rust ≥ 1.95 (install via rustup.rs).

After installing, verify with:

hydra -V

Option 2 — Pre-built binary (no Rust required)

Download the hydra binary for your platform from the releases page and place it somewhere on your PATH.

macOS — Pre-built CLI binaries are currently not notarised. If Gatekeeper blocks the binary, remove the quarantine flag:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine hydra

Building from Source

If you want to build Hydra yourself (e.g. to contribute or run the test suite):

Prerequisites

• Rust stable ≥ 1.95 — rustup.rs
• just — cargo install just or brew install just
• GUI only: Node.js 24, pnpm 11, Tauri CLI (cargo install tauri-cli), and the Tauri system prerequisites for your platform

git clone https://github.com/neeraip/hydra
cd hydra
just setup          # optional: install Cargo deps, frontend deps, and CLI tools (needs pnpm)
just build          # debug build
just release        # optimised release build (fat LTO, embeds the GUI frontend — needs Node/pnpm)
just test           # run the full test suite