Install Profinity from an archive

Install Profinity from a downloaded archive when you are trying it, running it interactively, or installing without root or systemd. To install on a Linux server or embedded device, or on any host where Profinity should start on boot, use the bootstrap installer instead. Profinity does not need Prohelion hardware to run.

An archive installation needs no installer. To have Profinity start on boot, configure the extracted files as a service by following Run Profinity as a service.

A separate archive is published for each supported host architecture. Select the archive that matches the host operating system and CPU architecture.

Host	Archive	Format	.NET runtime
Linux, x86_64 / amd64	`Profinity-Linux-x64.tar.gz`	tar.gz	Bundled, so no separate install is needed
Linux, ARM64 (aarch64, 64-bit ARM)	`Profinity-Linux-arm64.tar.gz`	tar.gz	Bundled, so no separate install is needed
Linux, 32-bit ARM (ARMv6 / ARMv7)	`Profinity-Linux-arm.tar.gz`	tar.gz	Bundled. The host also needs the system ICU (International Components for Unicode) library
macOS (any architecture), or any other unsupported architecture	`Profinity-Portable.zip`	zip	Not bundled. Needs the .NET 10 ASP.NET Core runtime, which `profinity.sh` installs automatically if it is missing

The Linux archives are self-contained. The macOS and portable archive needs the .NET 10 ASP.NET Core runtime, which profinity.sh downloads and verifies the first time Profinity starts, if the host has internet access. To install the runtime yourself, or to prepare a host without internet access, download it from Microsoft.

Download ASP.NET Core 10

Download the archive that matches the host.
Create a destination folder and extract the archive into it, because the archives have no wrapping top-level folder.

For a Linux .tar.gz archive, substitute the file name for your architecture:
```
mkdir profinity && tar -xzf Profinity-Linux-x64.tar.gz -C profinity
```
For the macOS and portable .zip archive:
```
mkdir profinity && unzip Profinity-Portable.zip -d profinity
```
Change into the folder and mark the startup script executable, because some archive tools do not keep the executable bit:
```
cd profinity
chmod +x profinity.sh
```
Start Profinity:
```
./profinity.sh
```

The extracted folder has this layout:

profinity/
├── profinity.sh      # startup script: runs preflight checks, then starts Profinity
├── update.sh         # updates the installation to the latest matching release
├── VERSION
├── edition.json
├── lib/
└── app/              # Profinity binaries

profinity.sh runs preflight checks before it starts Profinity. On the self-contained Linux archives, it checks the host architecture and the required system libraries. On the macOS and portable archive, it checks for a compatible .NET runtime and, if none is found, installs one from a checksum-verified Microsoft installer. Run ./profinity.sh --check-only to run these checks without starting Profinity.

The startup banner appears, followed by log lines that end with the address Profinity is listening on:

Prohelion Profinity - v2.3.x.x
Copyright © 2026 - Prohelion Pty Ltd.
------------------------------------------
Press Ctrl-C to shut the application down.

INFO: Starting Prohelion - Profinity
INFO: Profinity Profile : Default 11
INFO: Profinity Services Starting
INFO: Now listening on: http://127.0.0.1:18080

To open the web interface and sign in, refer to Open the web interface. On Linux, create the artefacts directory and set its ownership before the first start, or set PROFINITY_HOME to a writable path, as described in Where Profinity stores its data.

Troubleshooting

./profinity.sh reports Permission denied: the archive tool did not keep the executable bit, so run chmod +x profinity.sh and start it again.
On the macOS and portable archive, a host without internet access cannot download the .NET runtime on first start: install the ASP.NET Core 10 runtime from Microsoft before you start Profinity, and run ./profinity.sh --check-only to confirm.
On Linux, Profinity cannot write to /var/lib/prohelion: refer to Troubleshooting.