Install

Homebrew Soon

brew install alto   # coming soon

The formula isn’t published yet. Until it is, build from source.

Build from source

You need Rust and Zig 0.17.1: libghostty, the terminal core, is built with Zig.

1. Get the source.

   git clone https://github.com/sanford/alto.git
   cd alto

2. Build everything and open the window.

   ./run.sh --release

   This builds the whole workspace, so the alto command (which is also the background service and each session’s process) sits next to the app, as it must. Leave off --release for a faster, debug build.

3. Put alto on your PATH, so agents and scripts can find it.

   ln -s "$PWD/target/release/alto" /usr/local/bin/alto

4. Set it up.

   alto install

   At a terminal it asks each step: Tailscale (and logging in), starting the service at login, letting your other devices in, whom else to trust, and the hooks and MCP server for the agents it finds here. With flags (--trust tag:ci, -y for the defaults) or with no terminal, as in cloud-init, it asks nothing. On Windows, double-clicking alto.exe does the same, and plain alto on a device not set up yet asks whether to, first.

5. Check it.

   alto status

   One line for each part (the service, Tailscale, remote access, devices, sessions, agents), then a command for anything that isn’t right.

macOS

scripts/bundle-mac.sh --release builds Alto.app in target/bundle/, with the alto command inside it and the service’s login item. It’s signed but not yet notarized.

Linux

Builds and passes every test; the window is checked less than on macOS. The service installs as a systemd user unit (alto service enable).

Windows

Builds and passes its tests in CI on a real machine. Sessions run on ConPTY. A session can’t yet move to a new build in place, so an update means a new tab for it, with Run again resuming agents.

Start over, or take it off

alto reset       # end every session, start the service fresh (asks first)
alto uninstall   # also stop starting at login, take out agents' hooks, remove Alto's state and settings

Both ask before ending anything; -y doesn’t (and is needed without a terminal to ask in). alto uninstall --keep-settings keeps settings.toml. The alto program itself stays where you put it: uninstall says where, to delete.

Next

• Your first sessions
• Set up your agents so tabs show what Claude Code and Codex are doing.