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Installation

There are two ways to install GLIDER:

  • Prebuilt app — the easiest path for most people. Download an installer and run it. Best if you just want to use GLIDER.
  • From source — installs the Python project with uv. Best if you want the very latest changes, are on a Raspberry Pi, or plan to develop.

Supported Python

GLIDER runs on Python 3.11–3.13 (3.14+ is not yet supported). If you install from source with uv, a compatible Python is installed for you — you don't need to manage Python yourself.

Prebuilt app

Prebuilt installers are published on the project's GitHub Releases page.

  1. Download the .dmg for your Mac from the Releases page. There is one per architecture — Apple Silicon (arm64) and Intel (x86_64). If you're unsure, choose Apple Silicon for M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs.
  2. Open the .dmg and drag GLIDER into your Applications folder.
  3. Launch it from Applications.

“GLIDER can't be opened” on first launch

Because the app isn't notarized, macOS may block the first launch. Right-click the app → Open, then confirm. You only need to do this once.

  1. Download the Windows build from the Releases page.
  2. Run the executable.

FFmpeg for recording

To record video you also need FFmpeg — see Recording prerequisites below.

For a Pi, the easiest option is the prebuilt SD-card image, which boots straight into GLIDER's touchscreen Runner. See Raspberry Pi Kiosk for flashing and setup. To install onto an existing Pi instead, use the from-source steps.

From source

GLIDER uses uv to manage its virtual environment and Python version.

1. Install uv

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

winget install astral-sh.uv

2. Get GLIDER and install it

git clone https://github.com/LaingLab/glider.git
cd glider
uv venv
uv sync --extra pc
uv run glider

On the Pi, PyQt6 comes from the system package manager (it's intentionally not a core dependency), so the virtual environment must be allowed to see system packages:

sudo apt install python3-pyqt6
git clone https://github.com/LaingLab/glider.git
cd glider
uv venv --system-site-packages
uv sync --extra rpi --extra i2c
uv run glider

uv run glider launches the app. The first time you run it, GLIDER offers a short interactive tour — take it or skip it.

Launch straight into Runner mode

Add the --runner flag to start in the touchscreen Runner: uv run glider --runner.

Optional extras

The --extra flags decide which capabilities are installed. Add any of them to the uv sync command, e.g. uv sync --extra pc --extra vision.

Extra What it adds
pc PyQt6 + audio — the standard desktop install
rpi Raspberry Pi GPIO (gpiozero, lgpio)
vision Pose/object tracking (YOLO / ultralytics)
audio Audio recording/playback
i2c I²C devices (ADS1x15, smbus2) — Linux/Pi only at runtime
behavior Behavior analysis (UMAP, HDBSCAN, scikit-learn, LightGBM)
dev Test/lint tooling plus the full pc + vision + i2c + behavior stack

You can add extras later

Re-run uv sync with more --extra flags at any time — for example, add tracking after the fact with uv sync --extra pc --extra vision.

Recording prerequisites (FFmpeg)

Video recording relies on FFmpeg. Install it once:

brew install ffmpeg

winget install "FFmpeg (Essentials Build)"

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Updating

Download the newer installer from the Releases page and reinstall. GLIDER also checks for updates and will let you know when a new version is available (Help → Check for Updates…).

cd glider
git pull
uv sync --extra pc      # repeat any extras you use

Verify your install

Launch GLIDER (uv run glider, or open the app). You should see the graph editor with a File / Edit / Experiment / View / Hardware / Run / Tools / Help menu bar. To confirm your machine's compute capabilities (useful before tracking), open Tools → GPU / Device Check.

Next: build your first experiment.