Desktop app

The desktop app is a self-contained version of Marginalia for one computer. It brings its own Java runtime and server, listens only on your computer and opens in your default browser.

Download

Download the archive for your system from the releases page. Two variants are published for every system:

Archive	Contents
`marginalia-<version>-<os>-<arch>-app`	The app: `Marginalia.app` on macOS, `Marginalia.exe` on Windows, `bin/Marginalia` on Linux
`marginalia-<version>-<os>-<arch>`	A portable folder started with a script, with command line options

Builds are available for Windows x64, macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Linux (x64 and arm64).

Install and start

Extract the archive and move Marginalia.app to Applications.
Open it. The app is not signed yet, so the first time macOS refuses to open it. Right-click the app and choose Open, or run:
```
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Marginalia.app
```

Extract the archive.
Run Marginalia\Marginalia.exe.
SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher. Click More info → Run anyway.

Extract the archive.
Run Marginalia/bin/Marginalia.

Extract the archive.
Run bin/marginalia (bin\marginalia.bat on Windows).

Starting takes a few seconds. Marginalia then opens in your browser at http://127.0.0.1:8765 and shows the first start dialog.

Tray icon

While it runs, Marginalia shows an M icon in the system tray (in the menu bar on macOS). Its menu has two items:

Open Marginalia - opens Marginalia in the browser again, for example after you closed the tab.
Quit Marginalia - stops the server. Closing the browser tab does not stop Marginalia.

Starting the app a second time while it already runs only opens it in the browser.

Where your data is

What	Where
Database, backups, extensions	`~/.marginalia` (`%USERPROFILE%\.marginalia` on Windows)
Logs	`~/.marginalia/desktop/logs/marginalia.log` (the previous run is kept as `marginalia.log.1`)

To move Marginalia to another computer, quit it and copy the .marginalia folder (with secret.key, which decrypts the saved API keys). Before larger changes, make a database backup.

Options

The portable launcher accepts these options:

marginalia --port 8765        # port to listen on; a free one is picked when 8765 is taken
marginalia --host 127.0.0.1   # address to listen on
marginalia --home /path       # directory that holds the .marginalia folder (default: your home directory)
marginalia --no-browser       # don't open the browser
marginalia --no-tray          # no tray icon; stop with Ctrl+C
marginalia --help

Other addresses

With --host 0.0.0.0 (or another address) Marginalia is reachable from your network over plain HTTP. For access from other devices use the server behind HTTPS instead.

Updating

Quit Marginalia, replace the app (or the portable folder) with the new version and start it again. Your data stays in .marginalia and is upgraded automatically on the first start; before the structure of the database changes, Marginalia saves a copy of it in db-backups. Extensions are built for one Marginalia version, so update them at the same time (see Managing extensions).

Uninstalling

Delete the app or the folder. To remove your data as well, delete the .marginalia folder.