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Hoot is a native desktop email client built on the Nostr protocol. Follow the instructions below to install Hoot on your platform.

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System requirements

Before installing Hoot, ensure your system meets the following requirements:
  • Operating System: Linux, macOS, or Windows
  • Rust: Version 1.70 or later (for building from source)
  • OpenSSL: Development libraries installed
  • Perl: Required for some build dependencies

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Install from pre-built binaries

Pre-built binaries are coming soon. For now, please build from source.

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Build from source

Building Hoot from source is currently the primary installation method.

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Prerequisites

First, install the required dependencies for your platform.
Install Rust and required build dependencies:
# Install Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env

# Install OpenSSL development libraries
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libssl-dev pkg-config

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install openssl-devel pkg-config

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S openssl pkg-config

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Clone and build

Once you have the prerequisites installed, follow these steps:
1

Clone the repository

Clone the Hoot repository from GitHub:
git clone https://github.com/your-username/hoot.git
cd hoot
2

Build the release version

Compile Hoot in release mode for optimal performance:
cargo build --release
This process may take several minutes as it downloads and compiles all dependencies.
3

Run Hoot

After the build completes, run Hoot:
cargo run --release
The compiled binary is also available at target/release/hoot and can be moved to your preferred location.

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Install to system

To install Hoot to your system path: 
cargo install --path .
This installs the hoot binary to ~/.cargo/bin/, which should be in your PATH.

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Development build

If you’re contributing to Hoot or want to run a development build: 
# Build and run in development mode
cargo build
cargo run
Development builds include debug symbols and are not optimized, making them slower but easier to debug.

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Using Nix

If you have Nix with flakes enabled, you can enter a development environment with all dependencies pre-configured: 
nix develop
This automatically sets up Rust, OpenSSL, and other required dependencies.

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Profiling build

For performance analysis using the puffin profiler: 
cargo build --features profiling
cargo run --features profiling
When profiling is enabled, Hoot starts a puffin server on 127.0.0.1:8585 and attempts to launch puffin_viewer automatically.

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Troubleshooting

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OpenSSL linking errors

If you encounter OpenSSL linking errors:
  • Linux: Ensure libssl-dev and pkg-config are installed
  • macOS: Try setting the OpenSSL path: 
    export OPENSSL_DIR=/usr/local/opt/openssl@3
  • Windows: Ensure OpenSSL is installed and the OPENSSL_DIR environment variable points to the installation directory

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Rust version issues

Ensure you’re running Rust 1.70 or later: 
rustc --version

# Update if needed
rustup update

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Next steps

After installing Hoot, proceed to account setup to create or import your Nostr identity.

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