Linux Installation
Instructions for installing Jan on Linux.
Install Jan
Flatpak is the recommended way to install Jan on Linux. It runs on any distribution and updates automatically through Flathub. Use the .deb or AppImage only if you can't use Flatpak.
Install from Flathub (opens in a new tab):
flatpak install flathub ai.jan.Jan
Then launch it:
flatpak run ai.jan.Jan
If you don't have the Flathub remote set up yet:
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Updating Jan
How Jan updates depends on which package you installed:
Flatpak updates through Flathub along with the rest of your system. The in-app updater is disabled — your package manager handles it:
flatpak update ai.jan.Jan
Compatibility
- OS: Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/RHEL, Arch, openSUSE
- CPU: AVX2 required — Intel Haswell (2013+), AMD Excavator (2015+)
- Memory: 8GB minimum (16GB recommended)
- GPU: 6GB VRAM minimum
- Storage: 10GB free space minimum
Jan Data Folder
Jan stores all your data locally — downloaded models, conversation threads, settings, and logs generated from using the app. Nothing is sent to the cloud.
Default location (resolves via XDG_DATA_HOME):
~/.local/share/Jan/data
The path to Jan's per-user configuration file (which records the data folder location) lives at ~/.config/Jan/.
See Jan Data Folder for details.
GPU Acceleration
Configuration for GPU support:
Step 1: Verify Hardware & Install Dependencies
1.1. Check GPU Detection
lspci | grep -i nvidia
1.2. Install Required components
NVIDIA Driver:
- Install the NVIDIA Driver (opens in a new tab), ideally via your package manager.
- Verify:
nvidia-smi
CUDA Toolkit:
- Install the CUDA toolkit (opens in a new tab), ideally from your package manager (11.7+)
- Verify:
nvcc --version
Additional Requirements:
sudo apt updatesudo apt install gcc-11 g++-11 cpp-11export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/cuda/lib64
Documentation (opens in a new tab)
Step 2: Enable GPU Acceleration
- Navigate to Settings () > Model Providers > Llama.cpp
- Select an appropriate backend in Backend. Details in our llama.cpp guide.
CUDA offers better performance than Vulkan.
Uninstall Jan
Removal commands:
flatpak uninstall ai.jan.Janrm -rf ~/.local/share/Jan # data folder (models, threads, logs)rm -rf ~/.config/Jan # app configuration
These commands permanently delete application data.