Advanced install

#All downloads

Files are served from Cloudflare R2, not GitHub Releases, and only the 10 most recent versions are kept. The download page lists every one of them.

Releases up to 0.1.x were published under the old name, as MOVIE-ADE-<version>-…. The Ferret-… names start with 0.2.0.

#Verify the download (signed SHA256SUMS)

Every release has a SHA256SUMS file and its signature SHA256SUMS.sig. The signature is made with the Ferret release key, which is kept apart from the download server, so a changed installer on the download server can't come with a valid signature. The public key is not taken from the download server: get it from the repository (build/release-signing/allowed_signers (opens in a new tab)) or copy it from here:

[email protected] ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIEpXERU8ST0MEOIMbzoL4zShkjIrMB4++NL3xBohKAS9

Its fingerprint is SHA256:c7dvwwJQyY9qSstkmrO8JoVZ90DCaFZBAzjqV04N8zQ. The same files are attached to each release on GitHub. Check the signature with ssh-keygen (included in macOS, Windows 10 and later, and Linux), then compare the hash of your download with the signed list:

# the download server (currently the R2 public URL; it may move to a custom domain)
BASE=https://pub-588d93b3e875464f98d6cf98dc711a0c.r2.dev
VERSION=$(curl -s $BASE/latest.json | jq -r .version)
curl -sO $BASE/releases/$VERSION/SHA256SUMS
curl -sO $BASE/releases/$VERSION/SHA256SUMS.sig

# save the public key above as allowed_signers, then:
ssh-keygen -Y verify -f allowed_signers -I [email protected] -n ferret-release -s SHA256SUMS.sig < SHA256SUMS
# → Good "ferret-release" signature for [email protected] …

# macOS
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing
# Linux
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

# Windows (PowerShell): compare with the line for your file in SHA256SUMS
Get-FileHash .\Ferret-<version>-win-x64.exe -Algorithm SHA256

Stop if ssh-keygen doesn't print Good "ferret-release" signature or the hash isn't in the list. Ferret's Check for Updates does the same check with the key built into the app and doesn't offer a version whose signature doesn't match. On macOS you can also check the Developer ID signature and notarization with spctl -a -vv /Applications/Ferret.app. For releases up to 0.3.0, compare with the hashes in releases/<version>/manifest.json.

#Older macOS versions

For versions up to 0.2.0 build 2: if macOS says the developer cannot be verified, close the dialog, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, click Open Anyway next to the Ferret message, and confirm with Open. If it says the app "is damaged", remove the quarantine attribute:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Ferret.app

#Build from source

Requires Node.js 20+ (CI and local development use 22), pnpm, and git.

git clone https://github.com/JapanMarketing-Dev/ferret.git
cd ferret
pnpm install          # postinstall prepares node-pty for Electron
pnpm dev              # run in development mode

To package installers (output in dist/release/, config in electron-builder.config.cjs). The Linux build only runs on Linux.

pnpm dist:mac     # dmg (arm64, x64)
pnpm dist:win     # NSIS installers (x64, arm64)
pnpm dist:linux   # AppImage + deb (x64)

The build:<os>:dev scripts produce an unpacked app only (--dir), which is faster for local testing.

On Windows, pnpm install uses node-pty's bundled prebuilt binaries instead of rebuilding (that would need the Visual Studio C++ build tools). Set ADE_FORCE_NATIVE_REBUILD=1 to force a rebuild.

If the terminal reports that node-pty could not be loaded, run pnpm rebuild:native.

#Updates

Ferret does not auto-update. In the footer, open Updates and click Check for Updates. It fetches latest.json from the download server (R2), compares versions, and checks the signature of that version's SHA256SUMS with the release key built into the app. When a newer version is available, click Download: Ferret downloads the installer for your computer, checks that its SHA-256 matches the signed SHA256SUMS, saves it to your Downloads folder and shows it there. The download page does the same check in your browser before it saves a file. Nothing is checked until you click, and nothing is installed automatically.