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Documentation

Desktop app

Install Raven on Linux or Windows, check the download, and bring your account over with your 25 words.

Raven also comes as a desktop app for Linux and Windows, on 64-bit Intel and AMD computers. The app is bundled inside it, so it opens even when a website cannot be reached, and what runs is exactly what you installed. Messages still go straight to Algorand.

Get it from Raven's download page. It offers the right file for your system first and lists every file with its size and SHA-256.

Linux

  • On Debian, Ubuntu and their relatives, use the .deb: sudo apt install ./raven_*_amd64.deb. It also sets up what Ubuntu 24.04 and later need for Raven's sandbox.
  • On other systems, make the AppImage executable and open it. It needs FUSE 2 (libfuse2).
  • The tar.gz is the same app unpacked: extract it anywhere and run raven.
  • On Ubuntu 24.04 and later, the AppImage and the tar.gz cannot start their sandbox. Use the .deb there. Do not work around it with --no-sandbox.

Windows

  • The installer asks whether to install for just you, which needs no admin rights, or for everyone.
  • The portable .exe runs without installing.
  • Raven is not signed with a Windows certificate yet, so Windows says it protected your PC. Check the file first (below), then choose More info, then Run anyway.

Check the download

Every version has a SHA256SUMS file next to its packages, linked from the download page. On Linux, put it beside the file you downloaded and run sha256sum -c --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS. On Windows, run Get-FileHash .\Raven-*-setup.exe in PowerShell and compare the hash with the one on the download page. The list and the files come from the same server, so this shows the file arrived intact, not who built it.

Your account

The desktop app keeps its own copy of your account, separate from any browser. Open it, choose Restore my account, and enter your 25 words. Your account, everyday chats and notes come back. Extra lock moves over separately: open Settings where you use Raven now, then Move Extra lock.

  • Linux keeps the account in ~/.config/Raven, Windows in %APPDATA%\Raven.
  • Uninstalling leaves that folder in place, so reinstalling keeps the account.
  • Deleting the folder deletes the account from that computer. Save your 25 words first.

What it is allowed to do

The app uses the camera only to scan Extra lock and contact QR codes, shows a notice when a message arrives while it is in the background, and uses the clipboard for copy buttons and to clear your recovery phrase after you copy it. Everything else, such as the microphone or your location, is refused. Links open in your normal browser. It does not update itself yet: get new versions from the download page.