> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Install the desktop app

> Run your pharmacy from an installed app that prints receipts silently, keeps a durable sale queue and talks to counter hardware.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['pharmacy']} plans="All plans" roles="Any staff member" />

The desktop app is the same pharmacy workspace you use in a browser, installed on the till. It adds the four things a browser cannot do: print a receipt without a dialog, keep queued sales somewhere durable, reach a serial count terminal, and boot straight into the till.

It contains **no app code of its own** — it loads your hosted workspace, exactly as a browser does. That is deliberate: it can never fall behind the web version, and there is no second product to keep in step.

<TaskHeader before="A Windows, macOS or Linux machine, and your usual sign-in" time="5 minutes, plus one online sign-in" after="An installed till app with silent receipt printing and a durable offline queue" />

## Pick the right build

| Build                 | Opens into                               | Idle lock                               | Install it on                    |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| **Pharmacy POS**      | Straight into the till, in kiosk mode    | None                                    | Counter terminals                |
| **ClinikEHR Desktop** | A normal window with the whole workspace | 15 minutes, and it really signs you out | Back-office and manager machines |
| Diagnostics           | The Diagnostics workspace                | 15 minutes                              | Not a pharmacy install           |

**Pharmacy POS** has no idle lock on purpose — a till that logs itself out between customers is a till that loses a queue of people. **ClinikEHR Desktop** does lock, because a back-office machine is shared and left unattended.

Installers are published per operating system: an installer `.exe` on Windows, a `.dmg` or `.zip` on macOS, and an AppImage or `.deb` on Linux. Get the current links from [Desktop app downloads](/platform/apps/desktop).

## Install and set up

<Steps>
  <Step title="Download the installer for this machine">
    Match the build to what the machine is for — **Pharmacy POS** on a counter terminal, **ClinikEHR Desktop** on a back-office PC.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run the installer">
    On Windows, see the SmartScreen note below before you start.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open it while the machine is online">
    This step is not optional. The app has to load your workspace once with a working connection before anything offline will work — until it has, there is nothing cached to fall back to.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Sign in exactly as you do in a browser">
    Same email, same password, same two-factor. Nothing privileged ships inside the app: it authenticates as your own user, so what you can see and do is identical to the browser.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the receipt paper form on this machine">
    Do it now, once, rather than discovering it mid-sale. See [Set up your receipt printer](/pharmacy/hardware/thermal-printer).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What the app adds

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Silent receipt printing" icon="https://mintcdn.com/clinikehr/nLyvBRumcl1Yk8z3/images/icons/print.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=nLyvBRumcl1Yk8z3&q=85&s=01f7fe54cffccad2ac0e8076d2a1a287" width="24" height="24" data-path="images/icons/print.svg">
    Receipts go straight to the counter printer with no print dialog, and a toast confirms it. See [the receipt printer setup](/pharmacy/hardware/thermal-printer).
  </Card>

  <Card title="A durable sale queue" icon="https://mintcdn.com/clinikehr/gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM/images/icons/database.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM&q=85&s=819f2656791c78d2e0575c09234b1773" width="24" height="24" data-path="images/icons/database.svg">
    Sales captured offline are stored outside the browser profile, so clearing browser data does not lose queued sales. See [Selling when the internet is down](/pharmacy/pos/offline).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Serial hardware" icon="https://mintcdn.com/clinikehr/gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM/images/icons/barcode.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM&q=85&s=f03965970dda1715e963f76357ce684d" width="24" height="24" data-path="images/icons/barcode.svg">
    Reaches a barcode count terminal in its USB cradle for stock counts. See [Count stock with a CipherLab terminal](/pharmacy/inventory/cipherlab).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Automatic updates" icon="https://mintcdn.com/clinikehr/nLyvBRumcl1Yk8z3/images/icons/rotate.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=nLyvBRumcl1Yk8z3&q=85&s=c3a2b6fd5f5ed7738f31040a079898a0" width="24" height="24" data-path="images/icons/rotate.svg">
    The app shell updates itself. The workspace inside it is always the live version regardless.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Check it worked

* The app opens on your pharmacy workspace, signed in, with the same sidebar you see in a browser.
* On the **Pharmacy POS** build, it lands on the till.
* The till header shows a settings control for the receipt printer — that control appears **only** inside the desktop app, so seeing it confirms you are running the app rather than a browser window.
* A test sale prints without a print dialog and toasts **"Receipt sent to printer"**.

## Before you rely on it

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="It must be opened once online before offline selling works">
    A cold start with nothing cached cannot show your workspace at all — you get an offline page with a **Retry** button. Open the app on the counter, sign in, and let the till load fully **before** the first time you need it offline. This is the single most common setup mistake.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Windows shows a SmartScreen warning">
    Current builds are unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen shows an "unrecognised app" click-through on first run. Choose **More info** and then **Run anyway**. Download installers only from the links your workspace gives you.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="External links open in your normal browser">
    The app is locked to your workspace's own address and will not navigate anywhere else, so anything external — a supplier site, a support article — opens in your default browser instead. That lock is a safety feature, not a fault.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Offline covers the till, and only the till">
    Sale capture queues and replays. Payment, returns and workflow steps on existing records do not happen offline in the app any more than they do in a browser. See [Working offline](/platform/apps/offline).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Nothing to configure inside the app">
    There are no settings to copy between machines except the receipt paper form, which is per-computer by design. Everything else — your prices, stock, staff and permissions — lives in the workspace and follows your sign-in.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<StillStuck topic="the desktop app" />