Installation

Tipeline is available as a Desktop app for building visually, and a CLI for the terminal. Both connect to the same Core engine. To share Tipeline with a team, run a Tipeline Server.

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Desktop App

The Desktop app is the easiest way to get started. It includes the Core engine.

Download

Installers are coming soon. Until then, build the Desktop app from source with the Developer Setup guide. It starts the Core engine for you.

Optional tools

Most actions work right away. Two groups use tools from your system, so install them if your workflows need them:

Tool	Needed for
Chrome or Chromium	Browser actions
ffmpeg (with ffprobe)	Audio and video actions

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CLI

Coming soon — the tipeline CLI package will be published to npm shortly.

Once available, install it globally with:

npm install -g @tipeline/cli

Then start the Core engine and run workflows from your terminal:

tipeline install   # first time only
tipeline start
tipeline workflow run my-workflow.yaml

In the meantime, see the Developer Setup guide to run Tipeline from source.

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First Launch

The first time Tipeline starts, it automatically:

1. Creates the data directory at ~/Tipeline/
2. Sets up the SQLite database (~/Tipeline/.database/tipeline.db)
3. Runs all database migrations
4. Creates Core's API token, used by remote clients and AI tools (saved in ~/Tipeline/.database/core.token)

No manual database setup is needed.

Optional: Global Environment File

Create a .env file at ~/Tipeline/.env to define environment variables available across all workflows:

SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
API_KEY=your-key-here

Reference them in any workflow with {{ _env.SMTP_HOST }}. See Variables & Templates.