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Install Gloopy

On Linux, the easiest route is to add the Gloopy package repository — you get gloopy on your PATH and future releases arrive with your normal system updates. The repositories are hosted on GitHub Pages; the packages are the full build, with the bundled Surge XT synth.

System Download Includes
Fedora / RHEL gloopy-<version>.x86_64.rpm Full build, with the bundled Surge XT synth
Debian / Ubuntu gloopy_<version>_amd64.deb Full build, with the bundled Surge XT synth
Windows (x64) gloopy-windows-x64.zip Portable build, with the bundled Surge XT synth (VST3)

Signed repositories

The dnf/apt repositories work when the release was built with a GPG signing key (the committed repo config verifies signatures). If a release is published unsigned, the repo steps below fail their signature check and the apt keyring download 404s — in that case use the one-off .rpm/.deb download from the Releases page instead, which needs no signature.

Fedora / RHEL (RPM)

Add the Gloopy repository and install — future releases then update with dnf upgrade:

sudo dnf config-manager addrepo --from-repofile=https://atgreen.github.io/gloopy/rpm-repo/gloopy.repo
sudo dnf install gloopy

When the packages are GPG-signed, dnf imports the signing key from the repository automatically on first install.

It installs to /usr/bin/gloopy. Launch it from a terminal:

gloopy

Prefer a one-off download? Grab the .rpm from the Releases page and sudo dnf install ./gloopy-*.rpm instead.

Debian / Ubuntu (DEB)

There is no apt repository — download the .deb from the Releases page and install it directly (apt pulls in the dependencies):

sudo apt install ./gloopy_*.deb

It installs to /usr/bin/gloopy; launch it from a terminal with gloopy. To update, download the newer .deb from a later release and apt install ./… it again.

Why no apt repo?

The package bundles the ~90 MB Surge XT plugin, so the .deb exceeds GitHub's 100 MB per-file limit for the Pages-hosted pool, and apt (unlike dnf) resolves a package's Filename relative to the repository — it can't be pointed at the GitHub Release asset. So Debian/Ubuntu uses a direct download rather than a repo.

Windows

Two downloads on the Releases page, both x64:

Download Use it when
gloopy-setup-x64.exe (installer) The usual choice — installs Gloopy, adds a Start-menu shortcut and an uninstaller, and can put gloopy on your PATH.
gloopy-windows-x64.zip (portable) You want no install — unzip and run, e.g. from a USB stick.

Installer

  1. Download and run gloopy-setup-x64.exe.
  2. On the setup screen, tick "Add Gloopy to my PATH" if you want the gloopy command line and the MCP server to work by name (recommended).
  3. Finish, and launch Gloopy from the Start menu.

It's a per-user install (no administrator prompt) and uninstalls cleanly from Settings → Apps. Because it isn't code-signed yet, Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher — choose More info → Run anyway.

Portable zip

  1. Download gloopy-windows-x64.zip and unzip it anywhere.
  2. Run gloopy.exe from the unzipped folder. (For the gloopy command line / MCP server, add that folder to your PATH yourself, or use the installer.)

Both include everything Gloopy needs:

  • The Microsoft Visual C++ 2015–2022 Redistributable (x64) is the one external requirement, and most machines already have it.
  • The featured Surge XT synth is bundled as a VST3 (in plugins\), so + Synth → Surge XT works out of the box — alongside the built-in Basic synth, the sampler, SFZ instruments, and hosted VST3 plugins.

macOS

No prebuilt package yet — build from source.

Running Gloopy

Once installed, gloopy opens the app. It also takes a project and has headless modes:

gloopy                                  # open the app
gloopy my-song/                         # open a project (a folder or a .gloopy)
gloopy render my-song/ out.wav          # bounce the mix, no window
gloopy render my-song/ out.wav --range 0 16   # just beats 0–16
gloopy export-stems my-song/ stems/     # one WAV per track

On startup Gloopy also opens its control API — OSC on UDP 9000 and gRPC on 127.0.0.1:50051 — so scripts can drive it.

Build from source

Prefer to build it yourself (or on macOS)? The repository's README has the current, complete instructions — the dependencies, the CMake commands, and how the bundled Surge XT synth is built. In short: install the build dependencies, then

cmake -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build
./build/Gloopy_artefacts/Release/gloopy

Next steps