Whisper for the terminal

Download Whisper for your terminal

Choose your laptop's system and download one installer. It gets the Whisper client for you. After installation, type whisper to sign in with your existing account. Your password is requested every launch.

First, install Node.js 22 or newer if it is not already on your laptop. Then run the installer you downloaded:

macOS or Linux

Open Terminal and run:

sh "$HOME/Downloads/whisper-terminal-install.sh"

If your browser saved it elsewhere, use that folder's path instead.

Windows

Open PowerShell and run:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "$HOME\Downloads\whisper-terminal-install.ps1"

If your browser saved it elsewhere, use that folder's path instead.

Open a new terminal and run whisper. The installer saves https://whisper.rachida.dev as the server, so you only enter your email or username and password. Remembering the email or username is optional; use /identifier or /forget to change it later.

Open and use a chat

1. Run whisper in a new terminal and sign in with your existing account.
2. Unread chats appear first. Type /chats to see every chat, including older and archived ones.
3. Type /chat 1 or /open 1 to open chat 1, using a number from the most recent chat list. The prompt says whisper> until you open a chat, then includes its name.
4. The chat updates the same message rows when delivery or read status changes. Press PageUp and PageDown to scroll; /up and /down work when your terminal doesn't send those keys. Scrolling above the loaded history fetches older messages. You can also use /older and /latest.
5. Press Tab to complete a command or an argument such as a chat number, message number, or color.
6. Use /chats to return to the chat list. The prompt returns to whisper> until you open a chat again. Type /p @NAME to open an existing direct chat, or /dm @NAME TEXT to send without switching.
7. Each message has a short number in brackets. Type /reply 3, then write your reply; or type /reply 3 Your message to send it at once. Use /cancel to stop replying.

Message source and participant colors

Source labels start off. Turn them on for your account in Appearance settings on the web or mobile app, or type /source global on in the terminal. The label appears only to you and only when a message came from another platform. In an open chat, use /source on, /source off, or /source default to override your account choice for that chat. Type /source to check it.

Each person's name has a distinct color. Type /colors to see the palette, then /color purple to choose your color in the current chat. Use /members to see everyone's number and color, then /color 1 yellow to change member 1. Other people are listed before “You,” and the numbers come from /members. You can also use /color @Ali yellow when the name is unique. Either person can change either color; the latest choice appears for everyone on web, mobile, and terminal. Use /color auto or /color 2 auto to restore automatic colors. The web and mobile chat settings also offer these controls. Shared colors require the updated backend and its database migration; the terminal reports a clear error if that server change is missing.

Online status and private names

In an open direct chat, the header shows whether the other person is online. In group chats, it shows how many other members are online. This updates with presence events while you chat; /online shows each person's current status. Delivery and read marks also update on the message itself.

Use /privacy on in a chat to show each sender as a colored dot instead of their name and change the prompt to whisper/PChat>. If your terminal has no color, the sender's color name appears instead. /members shows everyone's color. Reply, typing, and online labels use color names so they remain clear without showing people's names. Use /privacy off to restore names. This setting belongs only to you, is saved separately for each chat on your account, and returns the next time you sign in. It hides interface names; it cannot hide a name written in the message text itself. Deploy the updated backend and its database migration before using this setting.

Type exit or /exit to log out and close Whisper. In a compatible terminal, its chat screen disappears and your previous terminal view returns. No messages, passwords, or session tokens are saved to the laptop. Your chosen login identifier and the encrypted group-chat device key can remain for the next launch.

The terminal checks its version when it starts and shows a Whisper update notice when a newer release is available. Run whisper version to see your version. After leaving the chat, run whisper update to install the newest client. If your current version does not recognize that command, download and run the installer above again; it replaces the existing client without deleting your chosen settings.

Remove Whisper from this laptop

While signed in to the terminal, type /uninstall and then /uninstall yes within 30 seconds. Whisper first revokes this terminal device from your account, then logs out and removes the client, launcher, saved identifier, and encrypted group device key. If revocation fails, the local files stay in place so you can retry. Your account and chats remain on the server. The command shows each step and a completion line. On Windows, keep PowerShell open until it says Uninstall complete.

If you have already left the chat, run whisper uninstall in a new terminal. It asks for your password (and your email or username if you chose not to remember it), revokes this laptop's terminal device, logs out, and then removes the local files. If it cannot sign in or revoke the device, the local files stay so you can retry. If you already revoked the device in the web app, run whisper uninstall --local-only to finish local removal. If your current version does not recognize these commands, update with the installer first.

To remove it manually on macOS or Linux, delete ~/.local/bin/whisper, ~/.local/share/whisper-terminal, and ~/.config/whisper-terminal. If the installer added a # Whisper terminal PATH block to your shell profile, remove that block too. On Windows, delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\WhisperTerminal and %APPDATA%\whisper-terminal, then remove %LOCALAPPDATA%\WhisperTerminal\bin from your user PATH. Delete any installer files you kept in Downloads. If you set XDG_CONFIG_HOME, its whisper-terminal folder holds the saved settings instead. For manual removal, revoke the terminal device in the web app's device settings as well.

The installer checks for an existing whisper command and asks before changing which command runs first. It leaves the other app installed.

What the terminal supports

The session logs out after 15 minutes without keyboard activity. While a chat is open, delivery and read updates refresh automatically. Use /refresh to sync immediately and /help for all commands. /clear empties only the local view, /online shows participant presence, and /notify on enables an unread alert for this session (a desktop banner in terminals that support OSC 9). When available, the chat also shows who is typing above the prompt. /me and the /shrug, /flip, /unflip, and /party shortcuts send encrypted text messages. /panic followed by /panic yes within 30 seconds clears the terminal session and logs out; it leaves server history alone. Text, replies, reactions, editing, favorites, search in direct chats, and receipt status are available. Calls and media stay in the web app.

Secure group messages need a key envelope for this laptop. Older encrypted group history may require a group member to share or rotate its key after the terminal device is registered.