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Packaging and distribution

Refract’s official release pipeline builds signed or unsigned Tauri artifacts for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Stable release aliases are byte-identical copies of the generated bundles and are the URLs consumed by package manifests.

Platform / repository Status Package name Automated Source
GitHub Releases Existing Refract Yes official
Windows MSIX Optional/manual; certificate-gated Refract-Windows-x64.msix Manual workflow packaging/msix
AUR Existing refract-launcher-bin Yes, on published releases official
Homebrew Cask Submitted upstream (PR #282100) refract Hashes can be refreshed by script upstream review
Scoop Submitted upstream (PR #18562) refract Hashes can be refreshed by script upstream review
Chocolatey Ready for upstream submission refract Hashes can be refreshed by script local package
nixpkgs Partially prepared; submission needs maintainer follow-up refract Source/hash refresh script upstream review
Flathub Blocked pending sandbox design — No evaluation only

“Ready” means the repository contains reviewable metadata; it does not mean an upstream repository has accepted or published the package.

Release identity

The authoritative desktop version is synchronized in apps/tauri/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json, apps/tauri/src-tauri/Cargo.toml, and apps/tauri/package.json. The root package.json version is historical. The bundle identifier and Linux desktop/application ID are com.refract, the macOS application is Refract.app, and the Windows artifact is the Tauri NSIS installer. The release workflow publishes these stable aliases:

  • Refract-Windows-x64.exe
  • Refract-macOS-arm64.dmg and Refract-macOS-x64.dmg
  • Refract-Linux-x86_64.AppImage, Refract-Linux-amd64.deb, and Refract-Linux-x86_64.rpm

The updater’s signed latest.json uses separate .app.tar.gz aliases. Package manifests intentionally use the installer/DMG aliases, not updater archives. MSIX is not listed as a direct-download link until a trusted publisher certificate is configured and a signed package has passed clean Windows install, upgrade, uninstall, WebView2, and data-directory tests.

Refreshing metadata

From the repository root, pass a published stable tag. The script verifies the release and all required assets, downloads them only to calculate SHA-256, and fails before writing if anything is missing:

python packaging/scripts/update-packages.py v1.4.0
python packaging/scripts/validate-packages.py

Use --check-only to inspect a release without changing files. Never execute a downloaded release artifact as part of metadata generation. A pull request should include the resulting manifest changes and the validation output.

Direct downloads versus package repositories

The .deb, .rpm, and .AppImage files are direct GitHub Release downloads; they are not evidence that Refract is in Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, or openSUSE repositories. The AUR package is published automatically. Homebrew, Scoop, Chocolatey, and nixpkgs require separate upstream submissions and review.

Upstream notes

  • Homebrew Cask: submit packaging/homebrew/refract.rb after running brew audit --cask and brew style. Current macOS releases are unsigned/not notarized, which may block official Cask acceptance until the existing signing hooks are configured.
  • Scoop: submit packaging/scoop/refract.json to the appropriate community bucket; the GUI NSIS installer is not a candidate for Scoop’s CLI-focused main bucket without maintainer approval.
  • Chocolatey: run choco pack packaging/chocolatey/refract.nuspec, then test the generated package with the real NSIS installer before submitting to the Community Repository.
  • nixpkgs: follow packaging/nixpkgs/SUBMISSION.md and add the expression to a nixpkgs checkout for review.
  • Flatpak: see packaging/flatpak/README.md; no insecure broad filesystem manifest is provided.