Install

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You need macOS, Windows or Linux, Git, a repository, and Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok, Antigravity, Pi, OpenCode or another agent that you have signed in to and started once. See native agent setup for supported versions and commands.

On your computer

Download the App and open it. Setup asks for:

1. Licence: activate yours, or start the 7-day trial.
2. Command line: the App installs the qualitylayer command, skills and hooks.
3. Your agents: each of the seven supported agents is shown with its sign-in and plan, and connected when found on this computer. One that is missing offers Install…, which opens the vendor's install page or shows the command for you to run.
4. Your projects: the repositories your agents worked in lately, found in their own history on this computer. Those with a conversation in the last 14 days start checked; Open QualityLayer adds the checked ones.
5. Your level: Engineering (default) or Product. What each changes.

On Windows you can also run irm https://qualitylayer.dev/install.ps1 | iex in PowerShell. This installs the App and the command line.

In your browser

The browser shows the same workspace: task content on the left, your agent on the right. After installation, run qualitylayer app to open it. Your agents run on the computer where QualityLayer is installed.

WSL2, dev containers and servers

Install QualityLayer where your agent runs. Its pages open in your computer's browser, so you don't need the App there.

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Install your agent first, then run this where it runs:

curl -fsSL https://qualitylayer.dev/install.sh | bash

Your agent runs in	The App's pages open
WSL2	In your Windows browser
A VS Code dev container (on macOS, Windows or Linux)	In your browser. VS Code forwards the port
A server over SSH	In VS Code Remote-SSH, by themselves. With plain ssh, forward the port that qualitylayer app pair prints

qualitylayer app opens the pages again at any time. An App installed on your computer shows only that computer's tasks.

A port for each machine

QualityLayer's server listens on port 41888 of the machine it runs on, and only on that machine. Plain ssh -L, VS Code and most forwarding tools carry that port to your computer. If something else already uses 41888, the server takes the next free port (41889, 41890 and so on) and Settings › About › Server says which one. On WSL2 the first port is 41910, so it stays clear of the Windows App.

Reaching several remote machines from one laptop is where the default stops working: two machines cannot both be forwarded to port 41888 on your laptop, and some forwarding tools cannot send a remote port to a different port on your laptop. Give each machine its own port, and forward each machine's port to the same number on your laptop.

Say you have three servers for three isolated projects. On each one, pick a port from 1024 to 65535 and restart the server:

qualitylayer settings set cockpit.port 41901   # on the first server; 41902 on the second, 41903 on the third
qualitylayer app restart

From your laptop, forward the three ports. With plain ssh:

ssh -N -L 41901:127.0.0.1:41901 first-server
ssh -N -L 41902:127.0.0.1:41902 second-server
ssh -N -L 41903:127.0.0.1:41903 third-server

Then open http://127.0.0.1:41901, :41902 and :41903 in your browser. qualitylayer app pair on each server prints the link that signs your browser in, with that server's port. The setting is saved on that machine and survives updates and restarts.

To try a port once, without saving it, start the server with it: QUALITYLAYER_PORT=41901 qualitylayer app restart. The variable wins over the setting for that server only. A value that is not a port from 1024 to 65535 is ignored.

qualitylayer app status says which port the server listens on, and whether it had to take another one. You can also change the port in Settings › About › Server; the browser tab you used gets a link to the new port (Settings).

To keep your licence, Claude Code login and QualityLayer setup when the container is rebuilt, add this to devcontainer.json:

"mounts": [
  "source=qualitylayer-${devcontainerId},target=/home/vscode/.qualitylayer,type=volume",
  "source=claude-${devcontainerId},target=/home/vscode/.claude,type=volume"
],
"postCreateCommand": "sudo chown vscode ~/.qualitylayer ~/.claude && curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash && curl -fsSL https://qualitylayer.dev/install.sh | bash"

Updates

Click Update ready in the App's sidebar, then Restart and update. Without the App, run qualitylayer update. See the release notes on GitHub.

Settings › About › Update channel chooses what you are offered. Stable (the default) takes stable releases only. Beta also takes betas, and moves to each stable release once it is newer than your beta, so switching never takes you back to an older version. qualitylayer update follows the same channel. An installed beta counts as Beta until you choose.

Setup connects the supported agents it finds. Updates preserve unrelated skills and your agents' personal settings.

Remove it

qualitylayer uninstall undoes what the installer changed; your plans stay. To move your licence, run qualitylayer licence activate <key> on the other computer.

On Windows

Works even when the App or CLI is blocked or gone:

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://qualitylayer.dev/install.ps1))) -Uninstall

It removes QualityLayer's integrations from your coding agents (keeping a backup of changed files), plus the skills, App and shortcuts. Your native logins, settings and session history stay. Your licence and tasks stay; add -Purge to remove QualityLayer's data too.

Windows with Intune or Defender Exploit Guard

If setup fails with "Microsoft Defender Exploit Guard blocked an operation that was not allowed by your IT administrator", or files vanish after install: QualityLayer 12.1.0's Windows installer and programs have verified publisher signatures. A managed-device policy may still block them. Ask IT to check the signature, release checksum and policy that blocked the file.

Fix	How
Exclusion (IT)	Exclude %LOCALAPPDATA%\QualityLayer and %USERPROFILE%\.qualitylayer\bin. Intune: Endpoint security › Attack surface reduction › Attack Surface Reduction Only Exclusions
File indicator (IT)	Allow the setup file by its SHA-256 from SHA256SUMS on the release page
WSL (no IT)	Install in WSL2; the App opens in your Windows browser

Then run qualitylayer doctor and open the App once to repair the install.

Next: your first task.