Install Silkie

Silkie is built from the silkie branch of this repository. Source builds retain the executable names kitty and kitten; binary packages provide silkie and silkie-kitten. Upstream kitty packages provide upstream kitty rather than Silkie’s extensions.

Binary packages

On Apple Silicon with macOS 26 Tahoe, install the Homebrew cask:

brew tap goblinreactor/tap https://brew.goblinreactor.com/homebrew-tap.git
brew install --cask goblinreactor/tap/silkie

The application requires macOS approval before first launch. The Homebrew repository’s Silkie instructions explain app approval and the available release.

For Linux, the signed APT repository provides installation instructions, the signing key, and the repository entry for your distribution. Current targets include Ubuntu 26.04 on amd64 and arm64, and Kylin V10 SP1 on old-world LoongArch64 (loongarch64). Packages for Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian 13 on amd64 are also listed there. Use the suite matching your system; old-world loongarch64 and new-world loong64 are different binary targets.

After configuring the repository as described there:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install silkie

Launch silkie and use silkie-kitten for its companion tools.

Source builds

Prerequisites

Install Git, a C compiler, and Go. The minimum Go version is declared in go.mod on the silkie branch.

On macOS, install Apple’s command line developer tools with xcode-select --install if they are not already available. On Linux, install the X11 and D-Bus development libraries listed in kitty’s build prerequisites.

The dev.sh build uses prebuilt dependencies for the supported platform, including its Python environment. The first build needs network access and downloads those dependencies. The build implementation is in this repository. For a build against system libraries, consult the upstream dependency list and Silkie’s Brewfile on macOS.

Build and launch

git clone --branch silkie https://github.com/adamdeprince/silkie.git
cd silkie
./dev.sh build
./kitty/launcher/kitty

Keep the checkout in place when running this development build. Re-run ./dev.sh build after changing the source. On macOS, the build also supplies kitty/launcher/kitty.app; see the upstream build notes for details about unsigned applications and relocating a checkout.

Try the input inspector

Inside the running Silkie terminal, use the executable from the same checkout:

./kitty/launcher/kitten show-pointer

Run that command from the repository directory. The show_pointer kitten queries the input protocols and displays the events supported by the terminal and connected devices.

Next, read Silkie configuration for Silkie-specific options and the kitty configuration manual for the inherited settings. Applications should query Extension capabilities protocol before enabling extensions.