Capture / Install lwis on your machine

Install lwis on your machine

lwis is a single binary: the command line and the daemon that delivers captures into your agent sessions. Releases are published for Linux x86_64.

Run the installer

curl -fsSL https://lookwhatisee.xyz/install.sh | sh

The script downloads the release for your machine and refuses to install unless every check passes:

1. Signature. The binary's minisign signature must verify with the release key embedded in the script. It uses minisign if installed, otherwise OpenSSL 3 (openssl). With neither, it stops.
2. Release key in DNS. The embedded key must equal the key published in the TXT record _lwis-release.lookwhatisee.xyz, read over DNS-over-HTTPS from two independent resolvers (Cloudflare and Google) that must agree. A compromised web server alone can't swap the key.
3. Checksum. When the TXT record _latest._lwis-release.lookwhatisee.xyz names the same version, the binary's SHA-256 must match it too.

It then installs lwis into ~/.local/bin (set LWIS_BIN_DIR to choose another directory) and tells you if that directory isn't on your PATH.

Offline or air-gapped? LWIS_INSTALL_SKIP_DNS=1 skips the DNS check. The script then prints a warning, and you must compare the printed key with the one in Verifying releases yourself.

Start the daemon

The daemon is lwis up. Run it as a service so it keeps running across logins:

lwis install-service --enable

On Linux this writes a systemd user unit, ~/.config/systemd/user/lwisd.service, then runs systemctl --user daemon-reload and systemctl --user enable --now lwisd. Without --enable it only writes the unit and prints the command to enable it. On macOS it writes a launchd agent instead.

To run it by hand instead:

lwis up                    # in the foreground
lwis up --idle-exit 60     # exit after an hour with nothing attached or pending
lwis down                  # stop it

lwis pair, lwis setup claude and a few other commands start the daemon in the background if it isn't running. The Claude Code hooks and MCP servers never start it: with the daemon down, they only say so. A daemon started in the background logs to ~/.local/state/lwis/lwisd.log.

Update

lwis self-update --check   # only say whether an update is available
lwis self-update           # download, verify and replace this binary

self-update verifies the download with the release key built into your installed binary, never with a key the server hands out. It also checks that key against DNS through the same two resolvers, refuses anything older than your version, and checks the SHA-256 from DNS when it names the same version. The previous binary is kept as lwis.old next to the new one.

If the daemon was running, self-update stops it: start it again with systemctl --user restart lwisd or lwis up. Other flags: --force reinstalls the current version (it never downgrades), and --skip-dns skips the DNS check when you're offline.

Root shells, containers and remote machines

In a root shell, a container or on a server you reach over SSH, see Remote machines and containers: the runtime directory, keeping the daemon running after you log out, and pairing a machine with no screen.

Where lwis keeps things

Check the installation

lwis doctor

It checks the directories, the socket, the service, the pairings, the browsers, and how captures reach each session. Next: 201 · Pair your agent.