# Installing Album

See [FAQ / Troubleshooting](/faq) in case you run into issues. Please also [file an issue](https://gitlab.com/album-app/album/-/issues/new) if you experience unwanted behaviour.

> **What gets installed?** Album uses a two-context execution model: a host
> Album environment (created during installation, contains the controller and
> CLI) and a separate per-solution micromamba environment that is created
> later, the first time you `album install` each solution. Album manages
> micromamba itself — you do **not** need a system-wide conda or micromamba
> installation. The wizard is a self-contained executable that creates
> `~/.album` and downloads micromamba into it on first launch.

## Automated installation with Album installation wizard:

You can install Album by simply downloading the installation wizard for your operating system and executing it.


- [Windows install wizard](https://gitlab.com/album-app/plugins/album-package/-/jobs/artifacts/main/raw/installer/album_installer.exe?job=windows_installer_build)


- [MacOS ARM64 install wizard](https://gitlab.com/album-app/plugins/album-package/-/jobs/artifacts/main/raw/installer/arm64/album_installer.app?job=macos_installer_build_arm64)


- [MacOS x86-64 install wizard](https://gitlab.com/album-app/plugins/album-package/-/jobs/artifacts/main/raw/installer/x86_64/album_installer.app?job=macos_installer_build_x86_64)

- [Linux install wizard](https://gitlab.com/album-app/plugins/album-package/-/jobs/artifacts/main/raw/installer/album_installer?job=linux_installer_build)

### Supported Platforms

| Platform | Architecture | Install Wizard |
|---|---|---|
| Linux x86_64 | `linux-64` | ✅ |
| Linux ARM64 | `linux-aarch64` | — |
| Linux POWER | `linux-ppc64le` | — |
| macOS x86_64 | `osx-64` | ✅ |
| macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon) | `osx-arm64` | ✅ |
| Windows x86_64 | `win-64` | ✅ |

> **Note**: Platforms without an install wizard (Linux ARM64, Linux POWER) are fully
> supported at runtime — Album will automatically download the correct Micromamba binary
> for your platform. Use the [manual installation](#manual-installation) instructions
> on those platforms.


The installation wizards will create a new directory called .album inside your home directory.
Into this directory the installer installs Micromamba and creates the Album environment for you.
On your Desktop you will find a link called Album which will start the Album graphical user interface.

**On some Windows systems**, especially virtual machines, the installer will trigger a request 
for admin rights. This is because the installer of micromamba needs to edit the powershell profile. 
The installer will only edit the profile of the current user and not the system profile. 
The installer will not install anything on your system without your permission. If you deny the request for
admin rights the installer will install album in a GUI only mode. This means that you can only use Album in the graphical
user interface and not in the commandline/powershell since they cannot be initialised without admin rights.

**On MacOS**, double clicking the executable might state that Apple can’t check the app for malicious software. You 
need to open the context menu from Finder, choose `Open` from there and confirm that you want to run this application.

**On Linux**, the downloaded file needs to be made executable by running `chmod +x ./album_installer`.

**Manually activating the environment for commandline usage**

To activate the Album environment for commandline use one of the following commands:

```
micromamba activate -p ~/.album/envs/album
```
**Uninstallation**

To uninstall everything, simply delete the .album directory in your home directory.

## Manual Installation

### Installation using micromamba (recommended)

This is the recommended method. The `conda-forge` package includes Album and all its
dependencies — including system-level tools like `git` that `pip` cannot provide.

Prerequisites:

- [Micromamba](https://mamba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html)

**Install the Album environment:**

```
micromamba create -n album album -c conda-forge
```

**Activate the environment:**

```
micromamba activate album
```

### Installation using pip

Album is also available on [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/album/):

```
pip install album
```

> **Note**: Album requires `git` as a system dependency (used for catalog management).
> `pip` cannot install system packages, so you must ensure `git` is available on your system
> separately. The micromamba/conda-forge installation handles this automatically.