How to Install Antigravity IDE on Linux from a tar.gz File

A complete guide to installing Antigravity IDE on Linux using the tar.gz file, from extraction to creating an application shortcut.

June 16, 2026 • 333 words • 2 min

Antigravity IDE is an Electron-based IDE distributed as a .tar.gz archive for Linux users. Since it isn’t available through your distribution’s package manager, installation has to be done manually. This guide covers every step you’ll need.

Prerequisites

The Antigravity IDE.tar.gz file downloaded from antigravity.google/download
sudo access on your system

Installation Steps

1. Extract to `/opt/`

The /opt/ directory is the standard location for third-party applications on Linux.

sudo tar -xzf Antigravity\ IDE.tar.gz -C /opt/

The flags used:

Flag	Purpose
`-x`	Extract the archive
`-z`	Decompress gzip (`.gz`)
`-f`	Specify the archive file name
`-C`	Extract to the target directory

Once finished, the application files will be located in /opt/Antigravity IDE/.

2. Create a Symbolic Link

So that antigravity-ide can be called from the terminal without typing the full path, create a symlink in /usr/local/bin/:

sudo ln -sf "/opt/Antigravity IDE/antigravity-ide" /usr/local/bin/antigravity-ide

The -sf flags mean symbolic and force — if a symlink already exists, this command will overwrite it.

3. Register with the Application Launcher

So that the IDE appears in your desktop application menu (GNOME, KDE, etc.), create a .desktop file:

sudo bash -c 'cat > /usr/share/applications/antigravity-ide.desktop << EOF
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Antigravity IDE
Exec="/opt/Antigravity IDE/antigravity-ide" %F
Icon=/opt/Antigravity IDE/resources/app/resources/linux/code.png
Type=Application
Categories=Development;IDE;
StartupNotify=true
EOF'

Key fields explained:

Exec, the command run when the app is opened. %F lets files be dropped onto or opened directly with it.
Icon, path to the application icon already bundled inside the archive.
Categories, groups the app under the Development category in the launcher.
StartupNotify, shows a loading indicator when the app first opens.

4. Update the Desktop Application Database

Run the following command so the system recognizes the newly created .desktop file:

sudo update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications

5. Verify the Installation

Confirm the installation succeeded by checking the version:

antigravity-ide --version

If the command returns a version number without errors, Antigravity IDE is installed correctly.

Uninstall

To remove the installation, delete the three components you created earlier:

sudo rm -rf "/opt/Antigravity IDE"
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/antigravity-ide
sudo rm /usr/share/applications/antigravity-ide.desktop
sudo update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications