Kayts for Linux: the desktop app is here

Since 29 October 2026, Kayts has its own app for Linux. It is the same app as Kayts for Windows, now built for 64-bit Linux, and like it, a beta. You can download it here.

Two ways to install it

On Ubuntu, Debian and the distributions built on them, take the .deb (about 100 MB). It adds Kayts to your applications menu with its icon, and it is the package we have tested from start to finish on Ubuntu 26.04: sign-in, the window and the quick chat. In the folder with the downloaded file, run:

sudo apt install ./Kayts-amd64.deb

On other distributions, take the AppImage (about 126 MB): one file that needs no installing. Make it executable, then open it:

chmod +x Kayts-x86_64.AppImage
./Kayts-x86_64.AppImage

To remove the .deb, run the command below; for the AppImage, delete the file. Your account and chats stay on kayts.ai either way.

sudo apt remove kayts-desktop

A quick chat on Ctrl+Alt+K

Press Ctrl+Alt+K in any program and a small box appears over everything else. Type a question and press Enter: it starts a new chat in Kayts, and the window comes forward with the answer on its way. On Windows the same box opens with Alt+Space, but on Linux that shortcut already opens the window menu, so Kayts takes one of its own.

On a desktop with Wayland, such as GNOME on Ubuntu, an app can't watch the keyboard of other windows. Kayts asks the system for the shortcut instead, and the first time, GNOME asks you to allow it.

Sign in through your browser

As on Windows, the app never asks for your password. "Sign in or sign up" opens kayts.ai in your browser, where you sign in the way you always do: Google, ORCID iD, a password or a code from your email. After you allow the app, the browser hands it a one-time code and the app gets a session of its own. In the chat, Settings → Account → Connected apps lists it, and Remove access signs it out within a minute.

Always up to date

The chat inside the app is the one on kayts.ai, so every new feature reaches the app the moment it is on the site, on Linux and Windows alike. The app itself checks for a new version when it starts.

What comes next

The Linux app is a beta, as the Windows one is: if something doesn't work on your distribution, write to us through support. An app for macOS comes next. Until then, and on any other device, Kayts works in your browser at kayts.ai.