Install Studio

FloCMS Studio runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Each release on the releases page has one file per system and a SHA256SUMS.txt file to check them. Installing Studio needs no administrator rights on Windows, and Studio installs PHP, Composer and MariaDB for your user only, when you ask it to.

Windows#

Studio runs on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11. Download one of these:

• FloCMS-Studio-<version>-x64.msi, the installer. It installs Studio for your user only, without administrator rights, into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\FloCMS Studio, and adds Studio to the Start menu.
• FloCMS-Studio-<version>-windows-x64-portable.zip, the portable folder. Unzip it and run Studio.exe. Nothing is installed.

A newer installer replaces the installed version. An older installer stops with the message "A newer version of FloCMS Studio is already installed."

Code signing#

The Windows files (Studio.exe and the .msi) are signed through the SignPath Foundation program for open source projects. Windows shows the publisher as SignPath Foundation. Each signed file also names FloCMS Studio and its version in Properties > Details.

A release made before signing was set up has "(unsigned)" in its title. Windows SmartScreen then warns you before the first start. See Privacy and code signing.

macOS#

Studio runs on macOS 14.4 or newer, on Intel and Apple Silicon. Download FloCMS-Studio-<version>-macos-universal.dmg, open it, and drag FloCMS Studio to Applications.

The macOS app is not signed by the SignPath program and is not notarized yet. The first time you open it, macOS refuses. To open it:

1. Try to open FloCMS Studio once.
2. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security.
3. Choose Open Anyway for FloCMS Studio.

Linux#

Studio is built for 64-bit x86 (x86_64 / amd64) Linux.

Ubuntu 24.04+ and Debian 13+#

Download FloCMS-Studio-<version>-amd64.deb and install it:

sudo apt install ./FloCMS-Studio-<version>-amd64.deb

You can also open the file in your software center. FloCMS Studio is then in the app menu, and the flocms-studio command starts it. The package installs Studio into /opt/flocms-studio.

Other Linux systems#

Download FloCMS-Studio-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage, make it executable and run it:

chmod +x FloCMS-Studio-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./FloCMS-Studio-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage

In a file manager you can instead right-click the file, open Properties, and allow it to run as a program.

Check a download#

SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 of every file in the release. Compare the hash of your file with its line in that file.

Windows (PowerShell):

Get-FileHash .\FloCMS-Studio-<version>-x64.msi -Algorithm SHA256

macOS:

shasum -a 256 FloCMS-Studio-<version>-macos-universal.dmg

Linux, with SHA256SUMS.txt in the same folder as the download:

sha256sum -c --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS.txt

System requirements#

What the release builds show:

Studio is built with Qt 6.12. On Windows and macOS, Qt is linked into the program, so it needs nothing else. The Linux packages carry their own Qt, with X11 and Wayland support.

To create and run projects, Studio needs PHP 8.1 or newer and Composer. Studio can download both for you. See Your first project.

Run one Studio at a time#

Studio runs once per user. When you start it again, the running Studio comes to the front.

Uninstall#

• Windows installer: remove FloCMS Studio in Settings > Apps.
• Windows portable folder: delete the folder.
• macOS: delete FloCMS Studio from Applications.
• Linux .deb: run sudo apt remove flocms-studio.
• AppImage: delete the file.

Uninstalling leaves your settings, the tools Studio downloaded, Studio's databases and your projects in place. Delete them yourself if you want them gone.

Where Studio keeps its files#

All of Studio's files are in folders of your user:

• Settings: a file named settings.json in your user's settings folder for FloCMS Studio.
• Downloaded tools: Settings > PHP and tools shows the folder (see Settings).
• Studio's MariaDB databases: Settings > Database server shows the Databases folder and has an Open folder button.
• Passwords: the database passwords Studio saves are in the system's secure store: Windows Credential Manager, the macOS Keychain, or the system's keyring on Linux.

Your projects stay where you created them.