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Installation

C-Studio is distributed for macOS Apple Silicon and Windows x86-64. Most users should install a package from the GitHub Releases page. Building from source is only needed for development or for testing a specific checkout.

Install a release package

  1. Open GitHub Releases and select the latest release.
  2. Download the macOS ARM64 .dmg package (preferred), or the .app.zip archive.
  3. Open the downloaded package and move C-Studio.app to Applications.
  4. Start C-Studio from Applications.

Current macOS packages are ad-hoc signed and are not notarized. After verifying that the file came from the official release page, macOS may require you to Control-click the app and choose Open the first time.

  1. Open GitHub Releases and select the latest release.
  2. Download the Windows x64 NSIS .exe installer (preferred), or the .msi package.
  3. Run the installer and follow its prompts.

Current Windows packages are unsigned and may trigger Microsoft SmartScreen. Only continue after verifying that the installer came from the official release page.

For developers: run or build from source

Prerequisites

Install:

  • Pixi
  • Xcode Command Line Tools

Install:

  • Pixi
  • Visual Studio C++ Build Tools with Desktop development with C++

Pixi installs the pinned Node.js, Rust, CMake, and Ninja packaging toolchain. The Xcode and Visual Studio components remain system prerequisites because they provide each operating system's native compiler, SDK, and packaging tools.

Run from a source checkout

Open a terminal in the application repository—the directory containing package.json and src-tauri/—then run:

pixi install -e package
pixi run --locked -e package tauri-dev

The Pixi development task enables portable-hdf5, so Cargo builds and statically links HDF5 with zlib support. No system HDF5 installation is required.

Build a macOS Apple Silicon package

Run this on an Apple Silicon Mac:

pixi install -e package
pixi run --locked -e package package-macos

Outputs are written below src-tauri/target/aarch64-apple-darwin/release/bundle/.

The command uses ad-hoc signing, not Apple Developer ID notarization. macOS may require right-clicking the app and choosing Open the first time.

Build Windows installers

Run this on a Windows x86-64 machine in PowerShell:

pixi install -e package
pixi run --locked -e package package-windows

The NSIS .exe and WiX .msi installers are written below src-tauri/target/x86_64-pc-windows-msvc/release/bundle/. They are unsigned and may trigger Microsoft SmartScreen.

Verify a development checkout

pixi run --locked -e package package-test
pixi run --locked -e package package-frontend
pixi run --locked -e package package-rust-check

Passing these checks establishes software correctness for the covered tests; it does not establish biological validity on a new dataset.