Installation

Porthole runs on macOS 15 or newer, on Apple silicon or Intel. A local Tart VM requires Apple silicon; Intel Macs can observe an existing remote Mac instead. Install and configure Slipway first.

Download the ZIP from releases, unzip it and move Porthole.app to your Applications folder. CI builds are ad-hoc signed, not notarized; see signing and Gatekeeper.

To build yourself, install Xcode 26+ and Flox:

Terminal

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4git clone https://github.com/smeltery/porthole.git
cd porthole
flox activate -- bun install --frozen-lockfile
flox activate -- bun run check

The universal app is written to dist/Porthole.app. Launch it yourself when you are ready, then run slipway note 'First Porthole session'. Its live view shows the configured target and recent activity. The app never starts or drives a VM.

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