grab the latest build from the download section. windows ships first as an nsis installer; macos (.dmg) and linux (.appimage / .deb) follow. the app auto-updates itself after that — updates are minisign-signed.

a "server instance" is just a project folder kern knows about. point kern at a directory and it becomes a managed instance — no daemons, no config files, no docker.

if a folder is moved or deleted, the instance is flagged orphaned rather than silently dropped, so you always know what kern thinks exists.

the app is intentionally generic. plugins teach it how to run each type of server. install a plugin for the server type you want to run — try the game server plugin for a minecraft server, or discord_bot to scaffold and run a bot.

plugins ship as .kern files (a zip with a manifest.json and an optional dist/ ui bundle). double-clicking a .kern file opens kern via the kern://install deep link.

1. 1.pick the instance, pick the plugin.
2. 2.fill the config form (rendered dynamically from the plugin's configSchema).
3. 3.hit start. stdout/stderr stream live to the terminal, appended to <instance>/latest.log, with full ansi color.
4. 4.the input box is a command dispatcher: start / stop / restart / install trigger lifecycle; anything else is piped to stdin.
5. 5.stop triggers a graceful shutdown with a 15-second timeout before hard-kill — tuned so in-flight requests finish (active connections drain) first.