Download & Install

Skirmish ships as a self-contained binary. No .NET runtime, no installer — just unzip and run.

System Requirements

• Any modern OS: Windows 10+, macOS 12+ (Intel or Apple Silicon), or Linux (x64, glibc 2.17+)
• A terminal / command prompt (the client runs in your terminal)
• Network access to a Skirmish server (LAN or internet)
• No .NET runtime required — builds are fully self-contained

Download

Windows

1 Download and unzip Skirmish-0.11.0-win-x64.zip to any folder.

2 Double-click run.bat to connect to the default server (localhost:5000).

3 To connect to a different server, open a terminal in the folder and run:

run.bat 192.168.1.50:5000

Replace the address with your server's IP and port.

macOS

1 Download the correct zip for your Mac: Intel (x64) or Apple Silicon (ARM).

2 Unzip the archive. Open Terminal and navigate to the extracted folder:

cd ~/Downloads/Skirmish-0.11.0-osx-arm64

3 Run the launch script:

./run.sh

The script automatically handles macOS Gatekeeper (xattr -cr) and file permissions (chmod +x).

4 To connect to a different server:

./run.sh 192.168.1.50:5000

Linux

1 Download and unzip Skirmish-0.11.0-linux-x64.zip:

unzip Skirmish-0.11.0-linux-x64.zip -d skirmish
cd skirmish

2 Run the launch script:

./run.sh

The script automatically sets the executable permission (chmod +x).

3 To connect to a different server:

./run.sh 192.168.1.50:5000

Connecting to a Server

By default, the client connects to localhost:5000 — a server running on your own machine.

LAN Play

To play with friends on the same network:

1. One player runs the Skirmish server on their machine (dotnet run --project backend/ or a published server binary).
2. Find the server machine's LAN IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.50).
3. All other players connect using: run.bat 192.168.1.50:5000 (Windows) or ./run.sh 192.168.1.50:5000 (macOS/Linux).

Connection Syntax

Troubleshooting

Connection refused / timeout

• Make sure the Skirmish server is running and listening on port 5000.
• Check your firewall settings — port 5000 (TCP) must be open on the server machine for LAN play.
• On Windows, you may need to allow the server through Windows Defender Firewall when prompted.

macOS: "Cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer"

• Use the provided run.sh script — it clears the Gatekeeper quarantine automatically.
• If the warning persists: System Settings > Privacy & Security > scroll down > click "Allow Anyway."

Antivirus false positive (Windows)

• Self-contained .NET applications are occasionally flagged by antivirus software.
• If blocked, add the Skirmish folder to your antivirus exclusion list.

Linux: "Permission denied"

• The run.sh script handles chmod +x automatically. If running the binary directly, set it manually:

chmod +x Skirmish.Client.Terminal
./Skirmish.Client.Terminal "http://localhost:5000"