Install Kontena
Kontena ships as a normal desktop app: download it, run it, and it finds the container engine you already have. Everything it needs to run is inside the download — there is no runtime to install first.
Before you start#
- A 64-bit machine. Linux x64, Windows x64, or a Mac with Apple Silicon. There is no Intel Mac build.
- A container engine — eventually. Docker or Podman, either one. You do not need it to install Kontena: the first-run wizard detects what is on your machine and walks you through installing Podman when it finds nothing. See Your first container.
Kontena is not code-signed or notarized yet, so each platform will warn you the first time you open it. What to click is under your platform below. This will change; until it does, we would rather say it plainly than let the warning surprise you.
Download#
Everything is published on the releases page. Each platform has an installer and a portable build — take the installer unless you have a reason not to, because only an installed copy can update itself.
| Platform | Installer | Portable |
|---|---|---|
| Windows x64 | Kontena-win-stable-Setup.exe | Kontena-win-stable-Portable.zip |
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | Kontena-osx-stable-Setup.pkg | Kontena-osx-stable-Portable.zip |
| Linux x64 | Kontena-linux-stable.AppImage | — |
The .nupkg, RELEASES-* and releases.*.json assets on the
same release are what the updater reads. You never need to download those by hand.
Install#
Windows
- Download
Kontena-win-stable-Setup.exeand run it. - Windows SmartScreen will warn you about an unrecognized app. Choose More info → Run anyway.
- Kontena starts on its own when the installer finishes.
Prefer not to install? Unzip Kontena-win-stable-Portable.zip anywhere and run
Kontena.App.exe from the folder. Keep the folder intact — the app is a set of
files, not a single executable.
macOS
- Download
Kontena-osx-stable-Setup.pkgand open it. - Because the build is not notarized, macOS refuses it on first launch. Clear the
quarantine flag once:
xattr -cr /Applications/Kontena.app - Open Kontena from Applications.
The portable build is the same app in a .zip: unpack
Kontena-osx-stable-Portable.zip, run the same xattr -cr on the
Kontena.app you unpacked, and start it from wherever you put it.
Linux
- Download
Kontena-linux-stable.AppImage. - Make it executable and run it:
chmod +x Kontena-linux-stable.AppImage ./Kontena-linux-stable.AppImage
The AppImage is self-contained — no packages to add, nothing to unpack. It declares the desktop categories Development and System, so a desktop that integrates AppImages files Kontena there in your application menu.
Which build to run#
Three channels are published, and they are separate downloads as well as separate update feeds:
- Stable — the tagged releases. This is the one you want.
- Preview — what has been merged towards the next release, refreshed on every
change to
main. - Nightly — cut from the
developbranch each night, and skipped entirely on a night when nothing was merged.
Preview and nightly assets carry their channel in the file name
(Kontena-win-preview-Setup.exe, Kontena-linux-nightly.AppImage, and so
on) and live on the rolling preview and nightly prereleases. Install
one of those and Kontena stays on that channel — it will not quietly move you back to
stable.
Build it yourself#
The repository is source-available, and running from source needs only the .NET 10 SDK:
git clone https://github.com/Lionear/Kontena.git
cd Kontena
dotnet run --project src/Kontena.AppA copy run this way cannot update itself — it says so in Settings › Updates rather than offering a button that would do nothing.