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AppImage is a community-based format to distribute applications to various mainstream Linux distributions without the need for a centralized store. One app = one file! This list contains tools to work with AppImages, such as to create AppImages for applications and to integrate AppImages into the system easily. As the vibrant community around AppImage is growing, so is this list.

AppImage discovery

App catalogs

AppImage.GitHub.io

Catalog of AppImages that passed an automated test, links to upstream download pages.

App stores

AppImageHub.com

Downloadable AppImages, powered by [Opendesktop.org](https://www.opendesktop.org/).

pling.com

Open store where creators can publish their libre products and creative content including AppImages.

Manjaro Software Discover

Web-based app store that contains applications in multiple formats, including AppImage.

App centers

NX Software Center

Portable Software Center for portable AppImage applications.

AppImagePool

Simple, modern AppImageHub Client, powered by flutter.

App scrapers

appimages.scraper

Search for AppImage releases over the web.

AppImageRadar

Search for AppImage-related activity on GitHub using Travis CI.

AppImage consumption tools

Desktop integration

Getting Started Managing Software with AppImage on Ubuntu

Verbosely explains how to manage AppImages without the need for further software.

go-appimaged

Optional daemon that integrates AppImages into the system (experimental).

appimaged

Optional daemon that integrates AppImages into the system (deprecated).

AppImageLauncher

Integrates into users' systems and establishes a single `~/Applications` directory, assisting the user to move AppImages into there, with support for updating and removing AppImages through apps launcher.

appimagehelper

Program for creating, deleting, controlling and organizing shortcuts to AppImage.

LinuxPA

PortableApps.com type launcher for Linux with AppImage support.

AppImage Desktop Maker

Creates menu entries for AppImages without the need for a daemon.

Thumbnailer for AppImages

Generates icons for AppImages that are shown in file managers of GNOME and KDE compatible desktop environments.

XApp Thumbnailers

Thumbnailers for GTK Desktop Environments, including one for the AppImage file format. Makes Gtk based file managers like Caja (MATE), Nautilus (GNOME), Nemo (Cinnamon), PCManFM (LXDE), and Thunar (Xfce) show application icons on AppImages.

AppImage To Gnome

Monitors and (de)installs AppImages from the Gnome desktop.

gnome_appimage_installer

Somewhat a misnomer (AppImages don't need to be "installed"), creates a desktop file that follows the freedesktop.org spec for your AppImage files; written in bash.

Gear lever

Integrates AppImages into the Gnome desktop by drag-and-drop onto the Gear lever application.

Updaters

AppImageUpdate

Official grapical application to update AppImages; command-line tool to update AppImages.

AppImageUpdater

Simple updater for humans written in C++ and Qt.

appimage-update

AppImage Update implementation written in Go.

appimage-updater

AppImage Update implementation written in Python, distributed on PyPi.

Sandboxes

Firejail

Optional sandbox with support for AppImage built in.

AppImage Sandboxing Project

Golang library to help sandbox AppImages with bwrap.

Package managers

appimage-manager

Command-line tool for managing AppImages allowing to search, install, remove and update applications.

bauh

Graphical user interface for managing Linux applications supporting AppImage, Arch (repositories/AUR), Flatpak, Snap and native Web applications.

homebrew-appimage

Linuxbrew AppImage Formulae.

AIPM

A Package Manager for AppImages.

Zap

AppImage package manager. Downloads the AppImage if it does not exist. If it already exists, updates it with AppImageUpdate. Integrates AppImage into the system.

RookiePM

Package manager for AppImages and Shell Scripts.

AppMan

AppImage Manager that works like APT or Pacman.

jewelrystore

Command line AppImage store made in ruby.

ayy

Package manager for AppImage. Single, static, dependency free binary. Written in Go.

leap

Fast and simple AppImage manager. Written in Rust.

Bread

Download, update, remove, and run AppImages from GitHub on the command line, and integrate apps into the desktop.

Note: The AppImage format is explicitly designed not to need any package managers or similar tools. Everything can be done in the file manager (and an optional daemon for system integration).

Linux distributions

Deepin

When you double-click an AppImage or any other executable file that lacks execute permissions, a user-friendly dialog explains the situation and asks for your permission to set the execute permission and execute the executable.

Nitrux

Promotes the use of AppImage as the main format for getting applications, has a built in app center featuring AppImages.

Linux Mint

Has an [AppImage thumbnailer](https://github.com/linuxmint/xapp-thumbnailers) to show application icons on AppImage files.

Zenwalk GNU Linux

Is "AppImage ready" and distributes some applications in AppImage format.

Although the AppImage format was carefully designed not to need any special support from Linux distributions, there are some that offer varying degrees of AppImage friendliness out of the box.

AppImage developer tools

Low-level tools

appimagetool

Converts AppDirs into AppImages.

nix-bundle

Converts Nix derivations into AppImages.

Build systems

appimagecraft

Recipe based AppImage creation tool working from source.

appimage-builder

Recipe based AppImage creation tool working from source.

KDE Craft

Build system used by KDE that can produce AppImages and other formats.

appimage-tooling

Ruby tooling to generate Appimages.

AppImage.cmake

CMake script which facilitates generating AppImage executables for Linux.

rules_appimage

Bazel rules to package any lang_binary target as AppImage.

Deployment tools for compiled applications

go-appimagetool

Tool that deploys dependencies into AppDirs, and converts AppDirs into AppImages (experimental).

linuxdeployqt

Deploys dependencies into AppDirs and creates AppImages; for Qt and other compiled applications.

linuxdeploy

AppDir creation and maintenance tool using plugins.

XojoToAppImage

Graphical tool for packaging compiled Xojo Linux programs into AppImages.

Deployment tools for Python applications

python-appimage

Ready to use AppImage distributions of Python (can be modified to include your application).

linuxdeploy-plugin-python

Bundle Python into an AppDir using a source distribution and linuxdeploy.

linuxdeploy-plugin-conda

Bundle Python into an AppDir using a source distribution, Conda, and linuxdeploy.

Briefcase

Convert Python project into a standalone native application, e.g., using AppImage.

pycharm-appimage-support

Deploy Python project as an AppImage directly from the PyCharm IDE.

PyAppImage

Ultimately simple python-to-appimage bundler.

Deployment tools for Electron applications

electron-builder

Supports AppImage as an output format.

electron-forge-maker-appimage

Electron Forge builder for AppImage.

Appnativefy

Create AppImage with embedded Electron browser from any website.

Deployment tools for Windows applications

wine32-deploy

Creates AppImages for 32-bit Windows applications that can run on 64-bit Linux systems without multilib installed.

AppImage For WINE

WINE-based AppImages and LD_PRELOAD based patches to launch WINE from AppImages.

ferion11/Wine_Appimage

AppImage for WINE 32bits from PlayOnLinux, an run on no-multilib systems.

GameImage

Is a way to package up games with either Wine or an Emulator into a portable AppImage that could be useful for the Steam Deck.

Deployment tools for Java applications

nbPackager

Packages NetBeans Platform Application with a JRE for AppImage, Linux, macOS and Windows.

Deployment tools for .NET Core (Mono) applications

Publish-AppImage for .NET

Publish AppImages for .NET applications.

.NET Core AppImage example

Example of how to deploy .NET Core (Mono) applications as an AppImage using `dotnet publish -f netcoreapp3.1 -r linux-x64` from within a `.cs` program.

PupNet Deploy

Cross-platform deployment utility which publishes your .NET project and packages it as a ready-to-ship installation file in a single step.

DotnetPackaging

Tool to distribute .NET applications in the AppImage format.

Deployment tools for Flash applications

flash-to-appimage

Script to package a Flash game (`.swf`) into an AppImage.

Deployment tools for Rust applications

Cargo AppImage

Cargo program that allows you to convert your Rust programs into AppImages.

Tools to convert from other package formats

pkg2appimage

Converts from deb, zip, tar.gz and other formats to AppImage using YAML recipes.

appimage2pkg

Repack AppImage and make rpm/deb which does not require FUSE.

flatpak2appdir

Turn Flatpak into AppDir which in turn can be turned into AppImage.

make-portable

Deploys installed application to AppDir, uses strace to fetch all file system calls and copies all accessed files in to AppDir including glibc.

AppImage cobbler

Python application that takes strace.log and turns it into a directory suited for an AppImage.

Elements

Tool to generate single-file, runc-based AppImages using a minimal (~3 MB compressed) Alpine Linux rootfs.

arch2appimage

Python script to convert any Arch Linux package (official/AUR) to an AppImage.

appimage-bash

GitHub Action for creating AppImage releases from binaries inside `.tar.gz` archives.

Package-to-appimage

Tool for converting `.deb` and `.rpm` packages into AppImage format by using Docker.

GMAppImager

Graphically Converts GameMaker Studio 2 games to AppImage bundles.

AppImaGen

Generates an AppImage from Debian or from a PPA of your choice for the previous (unfortunately not the oldest as recommended) and still supported Ubuntu LTS.

Metadata tools

AppStream MetaInfo Creator

More elaborate generator for AppStream MetaInfo files by the author of the AppStream metainfo format.

QC tools

appimage-testsuite

AppImage testing environment based on Docker containers for various Linux distributions.

appimagelint

Tool to check AppImages for compatibility, best practices etc.

Continuous integration

GitHub Actions example

Example of how to upload AppImages built using GitHub Actions to GitHub Releases.

appimage.yml

Bigger, more complex example of how to build and upload AppImages using GitHub Actions.

build-appimage-action

GitHub Action for producing AppImages using appimage-builder.

jniltinho/packages

Drone.io example for producing AppImages using go-appimagetool.

Link to the latest build artifact on GitLab CI

Example of how to directly link to the latest build artifact on GitLab CI (can be tricky).

Libraries

QAppImageUpdate

Qt5 library and plugin for updating AppImages, can be embedded into applications.

AppImageServices

D-Bus services providing a high-level interface over the AppImage manipulation libraries for file managers, software centers and other tools.

libappimage

Implements functionality for dealing with AppImage files, written in C++ using Boost.

libzsync-go

Zsync implementation written in Go that can be used to update AppImages.

appenv

Small C++ library telling where the app data resides and where the user data is by using `readlink("/proc/self/exe")`), thus allowing C++ applications to become relocatable in the filesystem.

Templates

Qt Desktop Template

Template for creating Qt Widgets desktop applications with AppImage generation using linuxdeployqt.

qt-hello-world

Qt Hello World project for AppImage creation using appimage-builder.

qt-qml-project-template-with-ci

Template for a Qt/QML application with batteries included: GitHub CI, automated GUI testing, automatic code-format checks and more. Compiles for Linux (AppImage), Mac, and Android.

mini-qml

Minimal Qml application template with deployment for Linux (AppImage), Windows, macOS and WebAssembly.

wxWidgetsTemplate

Cross-platform application template for wxWidgets C++, with pre-set files and IDE projects, supporting AppImage.

Briefcase Linux AppImage Template

Cookiecutter template for building Python apps that will run under Linux, packaged as an AppImage.

Resources

Specs

AppImageSpec

Official specification for the AppImage format.

Desktop Entry Specification

Specification for the matadata used inside AppImages.

Documentation

docs.appimage.org

Official AppImage documentation.

appimage-builder.readthedocs.io

Documentation of appimage-builder, includes tutorials, examples, and more.

Tutorials

Produce an AppImage that bundles everything with go-appimage

How to make an AppImage that bundles _all_ required libraries so that it should run not only on newer, but also on _older_ systems than the build system.

Articles

The Background Story of AppImage

Interview with the creator of AppImage, explaining the key ideas and motivations behind the concept.

Flatpak, Snap and AppImage

Jesse Smith on DistroWatch about AppImage, Flatpak and Snap.

Don't Install, Just Copy with klik

Article from 2005 that gives perspective on how AppImage started, relevant only for historical reasons now.

Videos

AppImage: Portable applications for Linux

Official AppImage introduction video by its founder.

Comparing Linux Package Formats - Deb, Flatpak, AppImage, etc.

By Bryan Lunduke.

AppImage: Universal Linux Apps, Overview and Thoughts

By Jeremy "Jay" LaCroix, LearnLinuxTV.

AppImage system integration on Ubuntu using go-appimaged

New appimaged daemon from the go-appimage implementation.

Integrate and Manage AppImages with AppImageLauncher

By Eric Adams.

Books

Mastering Qt 5

Contains a section on how to package and deploy Qt applications for Linux using linuxdeployqt.

Blogs

Planet AppImage

Blog Aggregator covering all things AppImage.

TheAssassin Blog

Blog covering AppImage related topics by TheAssassin.

AppImage Crafters Blog

Blog about AppImage creation an usage by azubieta.

Community

#AppImage channel on libera.chat

Chat where AppImage developers and users hang out, be prepared to stay in the channel for days if you don't get answers immediately.

discourse.appimage.org

Official AppImage forum for users and application developers.

Stack Overflow

Questions tagged `[appimage]` on Stack Overflow.

r/AppImage/

AppImage subreddit.

Miscellaneous

AppImage wiki

Official AppImage wiki.

AppImageZip

Experimental pure Rust implementation of the AppImage runtime that uses Zip as the backing file system image.

help-wanted

AppImage issues that the AppImage team would like your help with. A great way to get started contributing to the project.

appdwarf

A tool to convert an AppDir or an existing AppImage file, either as a local file or from a URL, into a highly compressed portable image using dwarfs.

Related

Similar projects

Comparison to other packaging systems.

Other awesome lists

awesome-linuxdeploy

Awesome list on linuxdeploy.

All Awesome Lists

All the Awesome lists on GitHub.

Expired links

App Outlet

Universal app store that works with AppImages, Flatpaks and Snaps.

appimage2desktop

Creates a desktop file and an icon in the system for an AppImage, nothing else.

AppImage-Integrator

A simple program to integrate AppImages into the Linux desktop written in Qt6.

Get AppImage

Collection of all AppImages in one website. Great search functionality.

AppStream Generator

Very simple generator for AppStream MetaInfo files which application authors can use to add metadata (like descriptions, screenshots, links) to their AppImage.