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The standalone binary packages the server, web assets, and default slideshow data into a single executable file. It is approximately 23 MB, requires no Node.js, Bun, or other runtime to be installed on the target machine, and runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

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Supported platforms

  • macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel)
  • Linux (x86-64)
  • Windows (x86-64)

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Getting the binary

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From a pre-built archive

tar -xzf slides.tar.gz
cd slides
./slides --port 4000

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Directory structure after extraction

After extracting, the archive produces the following layout. The web/ directory must remain co-located with the binary — moving the binary alone will break static asset serving. 
slides/
├── slides               # The binary (slides.exe on Windows)
├── web/                 # Bundled web assets (must stay alongside the binary)
└── data/slideshows/     # Default slideshow data
    └── default.json
You can use the bundled data/slideshows/ directory or point to your own collection with --data-dir.

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Running the binary

# Start on the default port (3000)
./slides

# Start on a custom port
./slides --port 4000

# Use a custom slideshow directory
./slides --data-dir /path/to/slideshows --port 4000

# Enable AI assistant features
./slides --api-key sk-ant-xxx --port 4000

# Open the browser automatically after starting
./slides --port 4000 --open
Once running, open http://localhost:<port> in your browser to view and edit slideshows.

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One-time setup with —init

The --init flag saves your current flags as persistent defaults and attempts to install a launcher symlink so you can run slides from anywhere in your terminal. 
# Save defaults and install launcher
./slides --init --data-dir /path/to/slideshows --port 4000 --api-key sk-ant-xxx

# After a successful init, you can simply run:
slides
--init does two things:
  1. Saves defaults to your configuration file (see Config file location).
  2. Installs a launcher symlink (macOS / Linux only) by trying the following directories in order: /usr/local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, ~/.local/bin. On Windows, launcher installation is not automated — add the extracted folder to your PATH manually instead.
If ~/.local/bin is used for the symlink and it is not already in your PATH, the init output will print a reminder with the exact export command to add.
You can also provide a custom install location: 
./slides --init --install-path ~/.local/bin

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Config file location

Defaults saved by --init are written to a JSON file. The location is platform-dependent:
PlatformPath
macOS / Linux~/.config/slides/config.json
Windows%APPDATA%\slides\config.json
CLI flags always take precedence over saved config. To update your saved defaults, re-run --init with new values or edit config.json directly. Example saved config: 
{
  "dataDir": "/Users/you/slideshows",
  "apiKey": "sk-ant-xxx",
  "port": 4000,
  "open": false
}

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Building from source

If you want to build the standalone binary yourself:
1

Clone and install dependencies

git clone <repo-url>
cd slides
bun install
2

Build the standalone archive

cd apps/server
bun run compile:standalone
This runs scripts/compile-standalone.ts, which compiles the server binary with Bun’s --compile flag, bundles the web assets, and packages everything together.
3

Find the output

PlatformOutput file
macOS / Linuxapps/server/dist-standalone/slides.tar.gz (~23 MB)
Windowsapps/server/dist-standalone/slides.zip
The compile:standalone script sets VITE_SERVER_URL= (empty) so the embedded web app resolves the server URL relative to the page origin, which is correct for standalone deployments where the server and frontend are served from the same port.

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