Install

Install Dolphin on Linux, macOS, or Windows

Dolphin runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Choose the method that works best for you.

Prerequisites

• LLM API key — from OpenAI (or any OpenAI-compatible provider), Anthropic, or a regional LLM service
• Go 1.26+ (only required for building from source)

Option 1: Download a pre-built binary (recommended)

Download the archive for your platform from the latest release, extract the binary, and place it in your PATH.

# Example: install the latest version on Linux x86_64
VERSION="v1.0.0"   # replace with actual latest version
curl -LO "https://github.com/dolphinZzv/dolphin/releases/download/${VERSION}/dolphin_${VERSION}_linux_x86_64.tar.gz"
tar xzf "dolphin_${VERSION}_linux_x86_64.tar.gz"
sudo mv dolphin /usr/local/bin/
rm "dolphin_${VERSION}_linux_x86_64.tar.gz"

# macOS Apple Silicon example
VERSION="v1.0.0"
curl -LO "https://github.com/dolphinZzv/dolphin/releases/download/${VERSION}/dolphin_${VERSION}_macOS_arm64.tar.gz"
tar xzf "dolphin_${VERSION}_macOS_arm64.tar.gz"
sudo mv dolphin /usr/local/bin/
rm "dolphin_${VERSION}_macOS_arm64.tar.gz"

# Windows x86_64 example (PowerShell)
$VERSION = "v1.0.0"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/dolphinZzv/dolphin/releases/download/$VERSION/dolphin_${VERSION}_windows_x86_64.zip" -OutFile "dolphin_${VERSION}_windows_x86_64.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "dolphin_${VERSION}_windows_x86_64.zip" -DestinationPath .
Move-Item .\dolphin.exe "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WindowsApps\dolphin.exe"
Remove-Item "dolphin_${VERSION}_windows_x86_64.zip"

Alternatively, add the download directory to your PATH instead of moving the binary.

Option 2: Install with go install

Requires Go 1.26+.

go install github.com/dolphinZzv/dolphin@latest

This places the dolphin binary in $GOPATH/bin (or $HOME/go/bin by default). Make sure that directory is in your PATH.

To install a specific version:

go install github.com/dolphinZzv/dolphin@v1.0.0

Option 3: Build from source

Requires Go 1.26+ and git.

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/dolphinZzv/dolphin.git
cd dolphin

Then follow the instructions for your platform.

Linux

make is available out of the box:

make build   # produces ./dolphin (version = dev)

Or build manually:

go build -ldflags="-X 'dolphin/cmd.Version=$(VERSION)'" -o dolphin .

For a release build, set VERSION:

make build VERSION=v1.0.0

macOS

make is included with Xcode Command Line Tools. Install them if you haven’t already:

xcode-select --install

Then:

make build   # produces ./dolphin (version = dev)

Or build manually:

go build -ldflags="-X 'dolphin/cmd.Version=$(VERSION)'" -o dolphin .

Windows

Option A — Go build (PowerShell / cmd):

# Development build (version = dev)
go build -o dolphin.exe .

# Release build with version
$env:VERSION = "v1.0.0"
go build -ldflags="-X 'dolphin/cmd.Version=$env:VERSION'" -o dolphin.exe .

Option B — Make (native Windows):

Install make via one of:

# Chocolatey
choco install make

# winget
winget install GnuWin32.Make

Then build:

make build   # produces ./dolphin.exe (version = dev)
make build VERSION=v1.0.0

Option C — Git Bash / WSL:

make build   # produces ./dolphin.exe (version = dev)

Verify the installation

dolphin --version

You should see output like:

dolphin dev

Post-installation: configure your API key

Dolphin needs at least an API key to run. Set it via environment variable:

export DZ_LLM_API_KEY="sk-..."
export DZ_LLM_MODEL="claude-sonnet-4-6"
./dolphin

On the first run, Dolphin will walk you through a setup wizard — choose your role, optionally generate a config file and a system prompt file. Everything is stored locally.

Recommended models

OpenAI

gpt-4o → https://api.openai.com/v1

Anthropic

claude-sonnet-4-6 → https://api.anthropic.com/v1

DeepSeek

deepseek-v4-flash → https://api.deepseek.com/v1

MiniMax

MiniMax-M2.7 → https://api.minimax.chat/v1

Zhipu GLM

glm-5 → https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4

Qwen

qwen3.6-max-preview → https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1

Kimi

kimi-k2.6 → https://api.moonshot.ai/v1

Set DZ_LLM_TYPE=openai for OpenAI-compatible APIs, or DZ_LLM_TYPE=anthropic for Anthropic.

Updating

Use the built-in update command:

dolphin update          # update to the latest release
dolphin update v1.0.0   # update to a specific version
dolphin update --list   # list available versions

Or re-install using one of the methods above.

Troubleshooting

“command not found: dolphin”

The binary isn’t in your PATH. Either move it to a directory in your PATH (e.g. /usr/local/bin) or add the install directory:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

“permission denied”

Make sure the binary is executable:

chmod +x /path/to/dolphin

“Go not found”

Download a pre-built binary (Option 1) instead of building from source.

Checksum verification

Each release includes a checksums.txt file. Verify your download:

sha256sum dolphin_*.tar.gz
# compare against checksums.txt from the release