Documentation
Installation
Linux

Linux Installation

To install Jan desktop on Linux, follow the steps below:

Compatibility

Ensure that your system meets the following requirements to use Jan effectively:

Debian-based (Supports .deb and AppImage)

  • Debian
  • Ubuntu and derivatives:
    • Ubuntu Desktop LTS (official)/Ubuntu Server LTS (only for server)
    • Edubuntu (Mainly desktop)
    • Kubuntu (Desktop only)
    • Lubuntu (Both desktop and server, though mainly desktop)
    • Ubuntu Budgie (Mainly desktop)
    • Ubuntu Cinnamon (Desktop only)
    • Ubuntu Kylin (Both desktop and server)
    • Ubuntu MATE (Desktop only)

RHEL-based (Supports .rpm and AppImage)

  • RHEL-based (Server only)
  • Fedora

Arch-based

  • Arch Linux (Mainly desktop)
  • SteamOS (Desktop only)

Independent

  • openSUSE (Both desktop and server)

Please check whether your Linux distribution supports desktop, server, or both environments.

Install Jan

To install Jan, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Download Application

Jan provides 3 types of releases:

Please download Jan from official distributions, or build it from source.

Step 2: Install Application

Here are the steps to install Jan on Linux based on your Linux distribution:

Install Jan using either dpkg or apt-get:

dpkg

# Install Jan using dpkg
sudo dpkg -i jan-linux-amd64-{version}.deb

apt-get

# Install Jan using apt-get
sudo apt-get install ./jan-linux-amd64-{version}.deb
# where jan-linux-amd64-{version}.deb is the path to the Jan package

Data Folder

By default, Jan is installed in the following directory:


# Custom installation directory
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME = /home/username/custom_config
or
# Default installation directory
~/.config/Jan/data

See Jan Data Folder for more details about the data folder structure.

GPU Acceleration

Once Jan is installed and you have a GPU, you can use your GPU to accelerate the model's performance.

Step 1: Verify Hardware & Install Dependencies

1.1. Check GPU Detection

To verify that your system recognizes the NVIDIA GPU:


lspci | grep -i nvidia

1.2. Install Required components NVIDIA Driver:

  1. Install NVIDIA Driver (opens in a new tab) for your GPU (NVIDIA driver 470.63.01 or higher).
  2. Verify installation:

nvidia-smi

Expected output should show your GPU model and driver version.

CUDA Toolkit:

  1. Download and install CUDA toolkit (opens in a new tab) (CUDA 11.7 or higher)
  2. Verify installation:

nvcc --version

Linux Additional Requirements:

  1. Required packages are installed:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gcc-11 g++-11 cpp-11

  1. Set up CUDA environment:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/cuda/lib64

See detailed instructions (opens in a new tab).

Step 2: Enable GPU Acceleration

  1. In Jan, navigate to Settings > Hardware
  2. Select and enable your prefered NVIDIA GPU(s)
  3. App reload is required after the selection

While Vulkan can enable Nvidia GPU acceleration in the Jan app, CUDA is recommended for faster performance.

Uninstall Jan

Open Terminal and run these commands to remove all Jan-related data:


# Uninstall Jan
sudo apt-get remove jan
# Remove the Jan data folder
rm -rf Jan
# Delete the application data
rm -rf ~/.config/Jan/data
# Delete the application cache
rm -rf ~/.config/Jan/cache

⚠️

Deleted data folders cannot be restored. Make sure to backup any important data before proceeding with deletion.

WindowsJan Data Folder