How to Install and Run jcode on Your Machine

jcode installs with a single shell command: curl -fsSL https://jcode.sh/install | bash. It runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows, and there is also a desktop app in beta. Once installed, you start a session and can run multiple coding agents in parallel — the site's benchmarks measure an additional interactive session at 10.4 MB of RAM and time-to-first-input at 48.7 ms.

Before you install

• Platforms: macOS, Linux, and Windows are listed as supported. A desktop app is available in beta.
• Shell access: The install method is a piped curl command, so you need a terminal and network access to jcode.sh.
• Builds: The site links to "All builds" if you want a specific version rather than the default install path.
• Docs and pricing: The site links to Docs, Pricing, and Enterprise pages. Check those directly for current terms — this article doesn't assume what they contain.

Install steps

1. Open a terminal.

2. Run the install command:

   curl -fsSL https://jcode.sh/install | bash
   

   The -fsSL flags make curl fail silently on HTTP errors, follow redirects, and show errors — so a failed download won't pipe a partial script into bash.

3. Wait for the script to finish. It downloads and sets up the jcode binary for your platform.

4. Verify the install by launching jcode from your shell. If the command isn't found, your shell's PATH likely wasn't updated — open a new terminal session or check where the installer placed the binary.

5. If you prefer a GUI, look for the desktop app beta link on the site instead of the shell install.

Run your first session

After launching, you get a session ready for input. The site reports a new session is ready in under 50 milliseconds, so startup shouldn't be a noticeable wait.

From there, the workflow centers on:

• Sessions — each agent runs in its own session, and the site's pitch is that extra sessions are cheap (megabytes, not hundreds of megabytes).
• Agent swarms — running many agents in parallel. The site shows a demo of 20 jcode agents writing code at once.
• Background tasks — long-running work that continues while you keep interacting.
• TUI features — the interface supports inline image rendering from image reads, inline LaTeX rendering, structured edit blocks, working links, and swarm file conflict notifications.

What the benchmarks claim

The site publishes comparisons measured on jcode v0.92.14 against Claude Code 2.1.267 and several other tools. Key figures for RAM per additional session:

For time to first input (10 launches each), jcode is listed at 48.7 ms, with Antigravity CLI at 383.7 ms and others ranging up to roughly 2 seconds. Headless mode is cited at 48× less RAM than Claude Code.

These are vendor-published numbers on specific versions, so treat them as the site's measurements rather than independent results — but they're the concrete basis for the "run many agents on hardware you already have" claim.

Common snags

• Command not found after install: the binary directory isn't on your PATH yet. Start a fresh shell.
• Piping to bash feels risky: you can download the script first, read it, then run it — the site's one-liner is just the default path.
• Too many agents slow your machine: that's the exact bottleneck jcode targets, but the ceiling still depends on your hardware. Start with a few parallel sessions before scaling to a swarm.
• Windows specifics: the site lists Windows support but doesn't detail shell requirements in the material here — check the Docs page for the Windows path.

Where to go next

The Docs link on jcode.sh covers sessions, swarms, and background tasks in more depth. The All builds link lets you pick a specific release, and the Pricing and Enterprise pages cover commercial terms.