Deploy software

Available in Fleet Premium

In Fleet you can deploy Fleet-maintained apps, App Store (VPP) apps, and custom packages to your hosts.

This guide will walk you through steps to manually install custom packages on your hosts.

Learn more about automatically installing software in a separate guide here.

Prerequisites

• fleetd deployed with the --enable-scripts flag. If you're using MDM features, scripts are enabled by default.

• If you're self-hosting Fleet, you need an S3 bucket configured to store the packages. Increase any load balancer timeouts to at least 5 minutes for the Add package and Modify package API endpoints.

Add a custom package

• Navigate to the Software page: Click on the "Software" tab in the main navigation menu.

• Select a team: Select a team "No team" to add a software package.

Software cannot be added to "All teams."

• Click the “Add Software” button in the top right corner, and a dialog will appear.

• Choose a file to upload. .pkg, .msi, .exe, .rpm, and .deb files are supported.

Software installer uploads will fail if Fleet is unable to extract information from the installer package such as bundle ID and version number.

• .pkg extractor code
• .msi extractor code
• .exe extractor code
• .deb extractor code
• .rpm extractor code

• To allow users to install the software from Fleet Desktop, check the “Self-service” checkbox.

• To customize installer behavior, click on “Advanced options.”

After the initial package upload, all options can be modified, including the self-service setting, pre-install query, scripts, and even the software package file. When replacing an installer package, the replacement package must be the same type and for the same software as the original package.

Pre-install query

A pre-install query is a valid osquery SQL statement that will be evaluated on the host before installing the software. If provided, the installation will proceed only if the query returns any value.

Install script

After selecting a file, a default install script will be pre-filled. If the software package requires a custom installation process (for example, if an EXE-based Windows installer requires custom handling), this script can be edited. When the script is run, the $INSTALLER_PATH environment variable will be set by fleetd to where the installer is being run.

Post-install script

A post-install script will run after the installation, allowing you to, for example, configure the security agent right after installation. If this script returns a non-zero exit code, the installation will fail, and fleetd will attempt to uninstall the software.

Uninstall script

An uninstall script will run when an admin chooses to uninstall the software from the host on the host details page, or if an install fails for hosts running fleetd 1.33.0 or later. Like the install script, a default uninstall script will be pre-filled after selecting a file. This script can be edited if the software package requires a custom uninstallation process.

In addition to the $INSTALLER_PATH environment variable supported by install scripts, you can use $PACKAGE_ID in uninstall scripts as a placeholder for the package IDs (for .pkg files), package name (for Linux installers), product code (for MSIs), or software name (for EXE installers). The Fleet server will substitute $PACKAGE_ID on upload.

Install the package

After a software package is added to a team, it can be installed on hosts via the UI.

• Navigate to the Hosts page: Click on the "Hosts" tab in the main navigation menu.

• Navigate to the Host details page: Click the host you want to install the software package.

• Navigate to the Host software tab: In the host details, search for the tab named “Software.”

• Find your software package: Use the dropdown to select software “Available for install” or use the search bar to search for your software package by name.

• Install the software package on the host: In the rightmost column of the table, click on “Actions” > “Install.” Installation will happen automatically or when the host comes online.

• Track installation status: by either

  • Checking the status column in the host software table.

  • Navigate to the “Details” tab on the host details page and check the activity log.

Edit the package

• Navigate to the Software page: Click on the "Software" tab in the main navigation menu.

• Select a team: Select a team (or "No team") to switch to the team whose software you want to edit.

• Find your software: using the filters on the top of the table, you can choose between:

  • “Available for install” filters software can be installed on your hosts.

  • “Self-service” filters software that users can install from Fleet Desktop.

• Select software package: Click on a software package to view details.

• Edit software package: From the Actions menu, select "Edit."

Editing the advanced options cancels all pending installations and uninstallations for that package. Installs and uninstalls currently running on a host will complete, but results won't appear in Fleet. The software's host counts will be reset.

Uninstall the package

After a software package is installed on a host, it can be uninstalled on the host via the UI.

• Navigate to the Hosts page: Click on the "Hosts" tab in the main navigation menu.

• Navigate to the Host details page: Click the host you want to uninstall the software package.

• Navigate to the Host software tab: In the host details, search for the tab named “Software.”

• Find your software package: Use the dropdown to select software “Available for install” or use the search bar to search for your software package by name.

• Uninstall the software package from the host: In the rightmost column of the table, click on “Actions” > “Uninstall.”

• Track uninstallation status: by either

  • Checking the status column in the host software table.

  • Navigate to the “Details” tab on the host details page and check the activity log.

Remove the package

• Navigate to the Software page: Click on the "Software" tab in the main navigation menu.

• Select a team: Select a team (or "No team") to switch to the team whose software you want to remove.

• Find your software: using the filters on the top of the table, you can choose between:

  • “Available for install” filters software can be installed on your hosts.

  • “Self-service” filters software that users can install from Fleet Desktop.

• Select software package: Click on a software package to view details.

• Remove software package: From the Actions menu, select "Delete." Click the "Delete" button on the dialog.

Removing a software package from a team will cancel pending installs for hosts that are not in the middle of installing the software but will not uninstall the software from hosts where it is already installed.

Manage packages with Fleet's REST API

Fleet also provides a REST API for managing software programmatically. The API allows you to add, update, retrieve, list, and delete software. Detailed documentation on Fleet's REST API is available, including endpoints for installing and uninstalling packages.

Manage packages with GitOps

Software packages can be managed via fleetctl using GitOps.

Please refer to the documentation for managing software with GitOps, for a real-world example, see how we manage software at Fleet.

When managing software installers via GitOps, the Fleet server receiving GitOps requests (not the machine running fleetctl as part of the GitOps workflow) will download installers from the specified URLs directly.