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Birdbrain is in public beta. This page covers where the builds are, what each platform gets, where security advisories appear, and what to report. For the walkthrough from a fresh install to your first capture, read Install and first capture. Birdbrain is open source under the MIT license, and its source is at github.com/thebristolsound/birdbrain. The builds are published from the same repository, and you need no GitHub account to download one.

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Get the build

Every build is on the Birdbrain releases page. Open the newest release, at the top of the list, and download the file for your platform. Asset filenames carry the version, so no per-file “latest” link exists — bookmark the releases page instead. The commands below use <version> as a placeholder for the version in the filename you downloaded.

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Platforms

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Install on Windows

  1. Download Birdbrain-Setup-<version>.exe and run it.
  2. SmartScreen warns about an unrecognized app, because the builds are not code-signed yet. Click More info, then Run anyway.
  3. The installer finishes and launches Birdbrain.

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Install on Ubuntu

The AppImage needs the execute bit and FUSE 2 before it will run:
Ubuntu stopped installing FUSE 2 by default, and without it the app does not start. The error reads like a broken download rather than a missing library. If you would rather not install it, run the AppImage with --appimage-extract-and-run instead:
The .deb is the alternative:
Then launch Birdbrain from your app launcher, or run birdbrain in a terminal. The .deb is best-effort: it receives updates through the in-app updater, but installing one runs dpkg behind a system password prompt, so nothing installs until you click Restart to update. On the .deb, watch the releases page rather than waiting for the app to carry a fix to you.

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Install on macOS

macOS support is experimental, and needs macOS 13 or later. Every release attempts a macOS build, but a failed one does not stop the release, so a release can ship without it. No machine check launches the build before it is published, and signing and notarization are deferred to the first non-beta release.
  1. Download Birdbrain-<version>-arm64.dmg on Apple Silicon, or Birdbrain-<version>.dmg on an Intel Mac. If the release lists neither file, it has no macOS build.
  2. Open the disk image and drag Birdbrain to Applications.
  3. The build is not signed or notarized, so macOS blocks the first launch, and may say the app is “damaged and can’t be opened”. That message is the download quarantine, not a corrupt file. Clear the quarantine once in Terminal, then open Birdbrain as usual:
The app does not install updates on macOS. To update, download the new disk image from the releases page and repeat the steps.

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Load the Chrome extension

The extension is not on the Chrome Web Store yet, so it loads unpacked in developer mode. On the Birdbrain dashboard, the extension card has an Open extension folder button and a Setup Guide that walks through the steps. If a case is open, click the house icon (Home) at the top of the left sidebar to reach the dashboard. The short version:
  1. Open chrome://extensions in Chrome.
  2. Switch on Developer mode.
  3. On the Birdbrain dashboard, click Open extension folder.
  4. In Chrome, click Load unpacked and select the folder the app opened, the one holding manifest.json.
After an app update, reload the extension at chrome://extensions. Chrome keeps running the copy it loaded until you do, so until then the extension is still the previous version. Install and first capture has the long form of both steps.

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Your data

Use synthetic or low-stakes material where you can. Real project data is tolerated, not endorsed, and what follows is advice rather than a control. When a new version needs to upgrade the case database, Birdbrain copies the database first, into a db-snapshots folder beside it, and applies the upgrade only if that copy succeeded. If the copy fails, the upgrade does not run and your data stays as it was. Three limits sit on that contract:
  • A snapshot covers the database, not capture files.
  • Restoring a snapshot overwrites your current database, and there is no undo.
  • Export is the only backup that includes capture files. Settings → Database → Utilities → Backup Database writes a copy of the database only.
Birdbrain does not encrypt the database or capture files at rest. Confidentiality of the live store relies on your operating system’s full-disk encryption.

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Where advisories appear

If a report implies that captures already taken are not what Birdbrain claimed, the disclosure is a pinned issue on the Birdbrain repository plus a patched release through the updater. Windows and AppImage installs pick that release up in place. .deb installs download it but install it only on Restart to update, so on the .deb you have to look at the releases page yourself.

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What to report

One class of failure matters above all the others: Birdbrain must not silently lose, corrupt, or mis-attest evidence. That is the floor the list below refers to. Everything else in the beta is rough on purpose. Do not report: layout, spacing, visual design, wording, labels, or a general sense that it feels dated. The UI is changing substantially and those decisions are made. Do report:
  1. Evidence lost, mangled, or mis-described. Anything that disappeared, came back different, or is described by the app as something other than what it is. This is the floor, and the highest-value report there is.
  2. Sites that fail to capture, capture incompletely, or render wrong in the viewer, with the URL where it can be shared.
  3. Workflow dead-ends, where the tester wanted to do something and there was no path. Awkward is not a dead-end.
  4. Whether the certification and verify output read as true to someone who would have to defend them to a hostile reader.

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Report a problem

Open an issue on the Birdbrain repository. It is public, and no response target is stated: the project is one maintainer and a beta. If you find a security vulnerability, do not open a public issue. Report it privately through the repository’s Security tab, as its security policy describes. The project has no channel for sending a .birdbrain case archive to the maintainer, and a bug report never needs one: the diagnostic bundle Birdbrain builds for you excludes your captures and your case database. Install and first capture describes how to create that bundle and what it holds.