Grok Bot Linux

A Linux build of the Grok Bot desktop app. It takes the official Electron app, runs it on a Linux Electron runtime, and replaces the native addons that only ship for Windows. No Wine. Sign in with the same account you use on the Mac app.

This is a community project and not an xAI or Grok Bot product.

Install

Quick install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrecated/grok-bot-linux/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Piping a script to bash runs it with your account's privileges, so read scripts/install.sh first if you want to see what it does. The checkout stays in ~/.local/share/grok-bot-linux/src; re-run the command or grok-bot-update to update.

Environment variables that change its behavior:

• GROK_BOT_LINUX_MODE=official|source|auto picks the install path (default auto).
• GROK_BOT_LINUX_SRC=DIR sets the checkout directory.
• GROK_BOT_LINUX_NO_DEPS=1 skips installing dependencies.

Debian / Ubuntu (apt)

curl -fsSL https://devrecated.github.io/grok-bot-linux/install-apt.sh | sudo bash

Or add the repo yourself:

curl -fsSL https://devrecated.github.io/grok-bot-linux/grok-bot-linux.list \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/grok-bot-linux.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grok-bot-linux
sudo grok-bot-linux-setup

Fedora / RHEL (dnf)

curl -fsSL https://devrecated.github.io/grok-bot-linux/install-dnf.sh | sudo bash

Or add the repo yourself:

curl -fsSL https://devrecated.github.io/grok-bot-linux/grok-bot-linux.repo \
  | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/grok-bot-linux.repo
sudo dnf install grok-bot-linux
sudo grok-bot-linux-setup

Arch (AUR)

A grok-bot-linux PKGBUILD lives in packaging/aur:

cd packaging/aur
makepkg -si

Once it is published to the AUR, an AUR helper installs it directly:

yay -S grok-bot-linux

From source

git clone https://github.com/devrecated/grok-bot-linux.git
cd grok-bot-linux
make update

The apt and dnf one-liners install a small helper package that contains only this repo's MIT-licensed scripts. The official build is downloaded and verified at setup time, so no xAI binary is hosted or redistributed by this project. Every path here fetches the official app at install time and never bundles it.

What it does

You get the official Grok Bot UI, the bots, the shared computer, and sign-in with your account, running as a native Linux app. Bots live on the cloud computer and this build is the remote control.

The latest stable upstream release is resolved through Cursor's update service. The current Linux runtime is Electron 42.1.0 (x86_64). Details on the port are in docs/how-it-works.md.

Build options

Command	Result
make detect	Newest stable version from Cursor's update API
make build	Tarball, .deb, and AppImage in dist/ (whatever this host can build)
make build FORMATS=tar	Only the runnable tree and tarball
make update	Build, validate, and install only when needed
make test	Smoke-test the staged build: load every native addon, launch under Xvfb
make install-user	Install the tree under ~/.local/share/grok-bot-unofficial with a menu entry
make install-updater	Add grok-bot-update to ~/.local/bin
make install-official	Install Cursor's official package, verified against its signed metadata
./scripts/build.sh X.Y.Z	Pin a specific upstream version
./scripts/build.sh --exe ~/Downloads/Grok_Bot_X.Y.Z_Setup.exe	Use an installer you already downloaded
./scripts/install-official.sh --check	Check the official package without installing

make build works without dpkg-deb: it builds every format the machine has tools for and skips the rest with a note. Node.js headers are not required; if node_api.h is missing, the build fetches the header-only node-api-headers package from npm.

The grok-bot wrapper and the AppImage keep Chromium's sandbox on whenever user namespaces, the setuid chrome-sandbox helper, or the bundled AppArmor profile make it possible. They add --no-sandbox only when none of those work, as in some containers, and say so on stderr. Extra Electron flags go in ~/.config/grok-bot/electron-flags.conf, one argument per line. For an NVIDIA black window, add --ozone-platform=x11 there.

Older Macs (macOS 11 Big Sur)

The official Mac app needs macOS 12 or newer. make mac-install rebuilds it for macOS 11 Big Sur by moving the official app.asar onto Electron 37, the last Electron release that supports Big Sur. It needs MacPorts with nodejs22 and npm10, and it runs on the Mac itself. The native addons are the official ones, unchanged.

git clone -b macos-legacy https://github.com/devrecated/grok-bot-linux.git
cd grok-bot-linux
make mac-install

Caveats: the in-app updater is off (run make mac-install again to update), sand-op-launcher (1Password connection) needs macOS 12, and Computer Use needs macOS 14. macOS 10.15 and older are not supported. This path has not been tested on a real Big Sur Mac yet; testing notes and how to report results are on the macos-legacy branch.

Updates

The in-app updater does not install this Linux build. Install the one-command updater once, then update from any directory:

make install-updater
grok-bot-update

Close Grok Bot before installing an available update. Routine updates write only ignored files under .cache/ and dist/ and do not touch the checkout. Repository changes are needed only when Cursor changes the app packaging, Electron ABI, or native dependencies. If a new release adds a native addon the port doesn't handle, the build stops and names it instead of producing an app that fails at startup.

Downloads are verified: the Electron zip against Electron's published SHASUMS256.txt, npm tarballs against pinned registry integrity hashes, and appimagetool, the AppImage runtime, and the better-sqlite3 prebuild against pinned SHA-256 values. Cursor's update response carries no checksum, so the updater requires HTTPS, allow-lists the exact download host and path, and validates the Debian package's identity and contents before installing.

Requirements

• x86_64 Linux, glibc 2.34+ (Ubuntu 22.04 or newer)
• An eligible Grok Bot plan, same as the official apps
• Build machine: p7zip-full, curl, unzip, g++, python3, Node 20+; dpkg-deb for the .deb, squashfs-tools and file for the AppImage

This repository never commits the official installer, app.asar, or built binaries. Those are produced on your machine.

License

Scripts and Linux-native sources in this repo are MIT. Grok Bot belongs to xAI. Electron belongs to the Electron project. See NOTICE.md.

Disclaimer

Grok Bot Linux is an unofficial, community project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with xAI or Grok Bot. All related names and marks belong to their respective owners.

Originally written by @jakob-bu — see the original repository. This is the community-maintained continuation under the Devrecated org.