First Launch — Allow Hefty to Run

Hefty's binaries are not signed with vendor certificates. This is a deliberate choice - we refuse to pay platform gatekeepers for the privilege of distributing software. The app is safe, but your operating system may show a warning the first time you run it. Here's how to get past it on each platform.

Linux (AppImage)

Make the downloaded file executable and run it. That's all there is to it.

chmod +x Hefty-*.AppImage
./Hefty-*.AppImage

Or right-click the file in your file manager, go to Properties → Permissions, and check "Allow executing as program", then double-click to launch.

macOS (DMG)

  1. Open the .dmg file and drag Hefty into your Applications folder
  2. Double-click to launch - macOS will block it with "Hefty can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software"
  3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security
  4. Scroll down - you'll see "Hefty was blocked from use because it is not from an identified developer"
  5. Click "Open Anyway" and confirm
macOS Sequoia (15+)

If "Open Anyway" doesn't appear or still fails, open Terminal and run:
xattr -cr /Applications/Hefty.app
This strips the quarantine flag. Then launch normally.

Windows (Installer)

  1. Run the Hefty Setup installer - Windows will show a SmartScreen warning: "Windows protected your PC"
  2. Click "More info" (the text link, not a button)
  3. Click "Run anyway"
  4. Proceed with installation as normal

This only happens once - after the first launch, your OS will remember that you allowed it.