Install & first run
Requirements
Section titled “Requirements”- Windows 10/11, 64-bit. Agents and projects typically live in WSL2 (Ubuntu or similar), which Atrium drives across the WSL↔Windows boundary.
- macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel — one universal build). Agents and projects run natively — no WSL2-equivalent boundary to cross.
- Your coding agents installed where you run them (e.g.
claudein your WSL distro or macOS shell).
Download & install
Section titled “Download & install”- Grab the latest release from the releases page:
- Windows —
Atrium_<version>_x64-setup.exe - macOS —
Atrium_<version>_universal.dmg(one build for Apple Silicon and Intel)
- Windows —
- Run it. Atrium installs per-user and self-updates from then on (signed updates).
”Windows protected your PC” (SmartScreen)
Section titled “”Windows protected your PC” (SmartScreen)”The installer isn’t EV-code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn on first run. Click More info → Run anyway. (Updates after the first install are cryptographically signed and verified by the app.)
The macOS Gatekeeper block
Section titled “The macOS Gatekeeper block”Atrium’s macOS build is ad-hoc signed, not notarized (no Apple Developer Program enrollment) — so first launch takes one extra step:
- Drag
Atrium.appinto /Applications. This is required, not just convenient — Atrium’s self-updater only works from/Applications; if you launch it from anywhere else, it shows a one-time prompt and disables updates until you move it. - Open it. On macOS Sequoia (15)+, Gatekeeper blocks it with an “Apple could not verify…”
warning — right-click-open no longer bypasses this (Apple removed that escape hatch in 15.0).
Clear it with any of:
- System Settings → Privacy & Security → scroll down → “Open Anyway”, or
- the terminal one-liner:
Terminal window xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Atrium.app - Homebrew (personal tap, prints the same one-liner as a caveat after install):
Terminal window brew tap redlinelabs-dev/tapbrew install --cask atrium
- This is a one-time step per install — once cleared, self-update keeps working normally.
First run
Section titled “First run”- Add a project — point it at a folder (a WSL path like
/home/you/code/my-app, or a native path). Atrium detects the shell and sets the project’s working directory. - Add panes — within a project’s groups (Agents / Terminals / Commands by default), open an
agent pane (e.g.
claude), a terminal, or a command (Atrium auto-detectspackage.json/Makefile/justfilescripts you can add in one click). - Run. Liveness dots, activity, and the live working directory light up as things start.
Panes stay alive when you switch away, and your session restores when you reopen Atrium (agent panes come back as click-to-wake skeletons — Atrium never auto-spawns processes on launch).
Updating
Section titled “Updating”Atrium checks for updates on launch and every few hours after, and shows a quiet, dismissible pill when one is available. It never restarts itself — that would kill your live terminals; you choose when to apply. There’s also a manual Check for updates in Settings → About. Updates are cryptographically signed and verified by the app.
A note on WSL2 memory (Windows)
Section titled “A note on WSL2 memory (Windows)”All WSL panes share one WSL2 VM (vmmem), and a heavy agent fleet can approach its memory cap — Atrium
shows per-pane memory so you can see it coming. Relief valves: close idle panes, raise the cap in
%UserProfile%\.wslconfig, or wsl --shutdown between sessions.
- Core concepts — projects, panes, lenses, the boundary.
- Panes & terminals — what a pane can do.
- The Atrium MCP server — give your agents eyes into the cockpit.