---
title: "Install"
description: "Install Creator Terminal, keep it up to date, or remove it from your computer."
canonical: "https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/install/"
last_updated: 2026-10-29
---

# Install

Install Creator Terminal, keep it up to date, or remove it from your computer.

## The install line

Paste your computer's line in a terminal. It gets the newest release, checks it, installs it,
and keeps it up to date from then on.

macOS and Linux:

```
curl -fsSL https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/install.sh | sh
```

Windows, in PowerShell:

```
irm https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/install.ps1 | iex
```

What you get:

| | needs | the command | the app |
|---|---|---|---|
| macOS | 13 or later, Apple silicon or Intel | `creator-tui` in ~/.local/bin | Creator Terminal in ~/Applications (Spotlight finds it) |
| Linux | glibc 2.35 or later, and libasound2 | `creator-tui` in ~/.local/bin | on a desktop, Creator Terminal in your app menu |
| Windows | PowerShell | `creator-tui` in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\creator-tui, on your PATH | Creator Terminal in the Start Menu, with its icon |

The app opens Creator Terminal in [a window of its own](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/terminals.md#its-own-window).

- `CREATOR_TUI_DIR=dir` puts the command somewhere else.
- `CREATOR_TUI_OPEN=0` installs without opening the app.
- `CREATOR_TUI_APP=0` installs the command alone on macOS and Linux.
- The command is `creator-tui`. Its settings are in `~/.config/motion` (see
  [Settings](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/home-and-screen.md#settings)).
- On a Mac, a `creator-tui` downloaded in a browser rather than by the line is refused until you
  run `xattr -d com.apple.quarantine creator-tui`.
- Windows Terminal keeps Ctrl+V for its own paste, which brings text. Creator Terminal still takes
  Figma's layers and files copied in Explorer from it, but not a picture copied alone: for that,
  remove the shortcut in Windows Terminal's Settings › Actions.

## Open it

Open **Creator Terminal** from your app menu, or run `creator-tui` in a terminal.
Home offers **New document**, recent files and examples. Run `creator-tui animation.json`
to open a file directly, or `creator-tui --window` to use the app’s own window.

Continue with [Your first animation](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/getting-started.md). See [Terminals](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/terminals.md)
if the stage appears as characters rather than a picture.

## ffmpeg

Video export and video layers need ffmpeg. Where it isn't installed, the line asks once whether
to install it, and says how:

- with the system's package manager (Homebrew or MacPorts on a Mac; apt-get, dnf, pacman and the
  like on Linux; winget, Scoop or Chocolatey on Windows), through sudo where it needs it. It
  never adds a repository or a package manager.
- where there's none, or it fails, it downloads ffmpeg and ffprobe beside the command, from
  their publisher, pinned to a version and checked (a static build on Linux, gyan.dev's on
  Windows; on a Mac it's Homebrew's).

`CREATOR_TUI_FFMPEG=yes` or `no` answers without asking. With no one at a terminal it doesn't
ask, and says how to get it.

## Updates

- Creator Terminal looks for a newer version each time it opens and every 6 hours, and installs it for
  next time. A box then offers to restart into it now, on home as well as in the editor.
- Click the version on the bottom line to look at once, and to see every version's changes (a
  restart button too, if it installed one).
- `creator-tui update` looks now.
- Settings › Updates › **Update by itself** turns it off (`"updates": false` in settings.json).

## Uninstall

`creator-tui uninstall` takes Creator Terminal off the computer: the command (and its folder on
your PATH, on Windows, once nothing else is in it), the app in the Start Menu, ~/Applications or
the app menu, and its cache folder. Close it in its windows and in other terminals first:
while it's still running, it says so and removes nothing. Wait a few seconds after closing it
if needed, then run `creator-tui uninstall` again.

It asks once whether your settings, sign-ins and kept edits go too (~/.config/motion); the answer is no unless you say yes, and `--all` says yes without asking.

ffmpeg stays, as other apps may use it: it says where it is and how to remove it.