Amp for Linux
The Linux app runs Amp in its own window, with notifications, a tray icon, and a built-in runner. If you hit a bug, send a bug report from the app.
Install
Pick your distribution above and run its command in a terminal. On Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora, it
adds Amp’s signed package repository and installs the amp-desktop package. On Arch and Omarchy,
it installs amp-desktop-bin from the AUR. Packages are built for x86-64 and ARM64.
Amp updates with the rest of your system, such as when you run sudo apt upgrade or sudo dnf upgrade. There is no AppImage or tarball: signing in returns to the app through a link
that only the installed package registers.
To sign in, click Sign In. Amp opens ampcode.com in your browser, and returns to the app when you finish.
Features
- Threads and orbs. Everything you can do on ampcode.com works in the app. Start threads that run in orbs or on your runners. Amp pages open in the app’s window. Links to these docs and other sites open in your browser.
- Notifications. The app shows a desktop notification when a thread is ready for your next message, and when someone mentions you or asks for access to one of your threads. It needs a notification service, such as mako, dunst, or the one your desktop includes. Without one, Amp sends the notification to your other devices instead.
- Unread count on the launcher. Like the Mac app’s Dock badge, the Amp launcher icon shows how many threads have an unread dot in the sidebar. KDE Plasma, Ubuntu Dock, Dash to Dock, and Plank show the count. Other desktops do not.
- Omarchy themes. On Omarchy, the app takes its colors from your Omarchy theme and follows it when you switch themes.
- Passkeys on your phone or a security key. When Amp asks you to confirm an action with a
passkey, or when you add a passkey in Settings > Security, the app shows a QR code.
- To use your phone, scan the code with your phone’s camera and confirm on the phone. The passkey can be in your phone’s password manager, such as iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager, or 1Password. Your computer needs Bluetooth turned on, because the phone uses it to check that it is near the computer.
- To use a USB security key, such as a YubiKey, plug it in and touch it, then enter its PIN if
it asks. The app uses the key the same way your browser and
sshdo, so a key that works there works in the app. - The app cannot use passkeys saved on this computer. For those, use Amp in your browser for that action.
- Zoom. Press Ctrl+= and Ctrl+- to zoom in and out, and Ctrl+0 to reset. The app remembers your zoom.
- Runners on this computer. When you choose where a thread runs, runners on this computer are marked This Computer. That includes the built-in runner and runners you start in a terminal.
Open Threads from Links
Thread links that you click in another app, such as Slack, or in your browser open in your browser first. The thread page then asks whether to open threads in the Linux app. See Open Threads from Links for the choices and the setting that remembers yours.
To send one thread to the app, click Open in Linux App in the thread header, or choose it in the command palette. If the app does not open, Amp offers to install it.
Links in the app that leave it, such as Open in New Tab in a thread’s share dialog, open in your default browser. Thread links do too, instead of coming back to the app.
Built-In Runner
The app can run threads on this computer, and you can start and control them from ampcode.com or the Amp apps on all your devices, like the Mac app’s runner. Open App Settings from your account menu (or File > App Settings… in the menu bar, which you show with Alt), go to Runner, and turn on the switch next to your email and Run threads on this computer. The app runs the Amp CLI as a runner for the account you are signed in to, and offers to install the CLI if it cannot find it.
The runner works only in the folders you add, the same list that amp runner dirs add changes.
Turn on Serve Home Folder to let it work anywhere in your home folder too. Turn on Allow
Terminal Access to let threads on this runner open a shell on this computer from the Terminal
tab.
With systemd, the runner runs as the user service amp-desktop-runner.service, so it keeps running
after you close the app and starts when you log in. Check it with systemctl --user status amp-desktop-runner. Its logs are in ~/.config/amp-desktop/logs/.
Tray and Open at Login
The tray icon lists your recent threads, with a dot for each one that is running, unread, waiting for you, or failed. Its menu also has New Thread, Open Puck, Call Puck, Mark All as Read, Run Threads on This Computer, Show Amp, Settings…, and Quit Amp. The tray needs a desktop that shows tray icons (StatusNotifierItem), such as KDE, Waybar’s tray module, or GNOME with the AppIndicator extension.
When the tray icon is showing, closing the window hides Amp in the tray, so notifications and the runner keep working. Click the tray icon or start Amp again to bring it back, and choose Quit Amp in the tray menu to quit. To quit when you close the window instead, turn off Show in Tray on the General page of App Settings. On the same page, turn on Open at Login to start Amp in the tray when you log in.
Shortcuts and Launch Arguments
The web app’s keyboard shortcuts work in the app. The menu bar, which you show with Alt, adds these:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+W | Closes the active tab in the page. |
| Ctrl+Shift+W | Closes the window. |
| Ctrl+R | Reloads the portal tab. |
| Ctrl+Shift+R | Reloads the window. |
Run amp-desktop --new-thread, amp-desktop --puck, or amp-desktop --call-puck to open the app
on a new thread, on Puck, or on a call with Puck. Your launcher also lists these as
actions on the Amp icon. On Hyprland or sway, bind a key to one:
bind = SUPER ALT, N, exec, amp-desktop --new-threadDifferences from the Mac App
The Linux app does not have these Mac app features:
- Opening Puck in a window of its own, and the dictation shortcuts for Puck.
- More than one window.