# Publish Desktop

Use when preparing, tagging, and publishing a Cline desktop app...

- Repository: https://github.com/cline/cline (71178 stars)
- Category: Testing
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-10-31
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add cline/cline --skill publish-desktop -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add cline/cline --skill publish-desktop -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add cline/cline --skill publish-desktop -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add cline/cline --skill publish-desktop -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Use when preparing, tagging, and publishing a Cline desktop app (apps/examples/desktop-app) release, stable (desktop-vX.Y.Z from main), beta (desktop-vX.Y.Z-beta.N from desktop-experimental, shipped as the side-by-side "Cline Beta" app), or nightly (artifact-only test build of main's HEAD, tagged desktop-nightly-<stamp> after it builds). Guides changelog drafting, version bumps in package.json + tauri.conf.json, tagging, and the desktop-publish GitHub workflow that builds, signs, notarizes, and updates the per-channel auto-update feed.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Desktop App Release

Use this skill when the user asks to release the desktop app, publish the Cline desktop app, cut a desktop beta, cut a desktop nightly, bump the desktop version, create a `desktop-vX.Y.Z` (or `desktop-vX.Y.Z-beta.N`) tag, or trigger the desktop publish workflow.

> Working directory: run every command below from the repository root.

Desktop releases ship three platforms, built entirely in GitHub Actions, there is no local publish path. macOS: a single signed + notarized universal DMG that runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel. Linux: x64 `.deb` and `.rpm` packages (`<Product>_<version>_amd64.deb`, `<Product>_<version>_x86_64.rpm`) built on Ubuntu 22.04 in the `build-linux` job, deb + rpm only (no AppImage: linuxdeploy cannot process the Bun-compiled Cline CLI the app bundles). Windows: an Authenticode-signed NSIS installer (`<Product>_<version>_x64-setup.exe`), signed via Azure Trusted Signing in the `build-windows` job (jsign through Tauri's `signCommand`, see `apps/examples/desktop-app/scripts/tauri-sign-windows.ps1`; requires the repo-level `AZURE_*` secrets including `AZURE_TRUSTED_SIGNING_CERTIFICATE_PROFILE_DESKTOP`, plus a `PublishDesktop`-environment federated credential on the `cline-cli-signing` Entra app). Installed apps discover new releases automatically through the Tauri updater, so publishing a release is what ships the update to every existing user **on that channel**.

## Release contract

The rest: https://github.com/cline/cline/blob/HEAD/.cline/skills/publish-desktop/SKILL.md