Install on Linux

Cove publishes amd64 packages for Arch-based systems, Flatpak, and other Linux distributions. Choose one installation method and continue updating it through the same channel.

Requirements

• An amd64 Linux system
• A working graphical session and GPU driver
• libmpv for the AUR and tarball distributions
• Enough space for Cove's bundled Java runtime and local media caches

An installed yt-dlp is preferred for supported video extras. When none is available, Cove can provision its own copy unless Keep yt-dlp up to date is disabled.

Arch Linux and CachyOS

Install the AUR package with your preferred helper:

yay -S cove-bin

The package is named cove-bin. Updates remain managed by pacman and your AUR workflow.

Launch Cove from the desktop menu or run cove. Remove it through the same package manager rather than deleting individual installed files.

Flatpak

Download cove-linux-amd64.flatpak from the latest stable release, then run:

flatpak install --user cove-linux-amd64.flatpak
flatpak run io.github.coveninja.Cove

The standalone bundle is not a Flathub remote. Replace it manually when a new version is released.

The Flatpak stores its application data under its sandbox. Removing the package does not necessarily remove that data unless the uninstall operation explicitly requests data deletion.

Other distributions

Download cove-linux-amd64.tar.gz. It includes its Java runtime but expects libmpv from the distribution.

The launcher expects Cove under /usr, so install the archive with:

sudo tar -xzf cove-linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr
cove

Replace a tarball installation manually when updating.

The archive is built for the /usr prefix. Extracting it under another prefix leaves launcher paths pointing at the wrong application image. Keep the release archive or inspect its file list when removing a manual installation; do not recursively delete /usr or another shared prefix.

Verify a download

Every Linux release asset has a .sha256 file beside it. Run, for example:

sha256sum -c cove-linux-amd64.flatpak.sha256

If the checksum fails, delete the download and obtain it again from the official release.

First launch and logs

A fixture or API key is not required in the packaged application. Complete the normal onboarding flow and add optional sources later.

Linux desktop logs are stored under ~/.config/cove/logs/. Flatpak logs are under ~/.var/app/io.github.coveninja.Cove/config/cove/logs/. See Troubleshooting before sharing them.

For update behavior by package type, read Update Cove.