GitPitch Desktop is a dedicated desktop tool for working and presenting offline. When you develop markdown content you can see changes to your presentation instantly reflected in a live preview in your browser. And full speaker support is available. GitPitch Desktop is available on Linux, OSX, and Windows 10 (Pro and Enterprise).
The following sections guide you through the activation, installation, and launch of GitPitch Desktop.
For additional information including answers to frequently asked questions see the GitPitch Desktop FAQ.
To install GitPitch Desktop you must first activate a GitPitch Pro subscription. For subscription pricing details and activation links visit the GitPitch website here.
GitPitch Desktop is delivered using Docker, the world’s leading software containerization platform.
Docker is available for Mac, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, among others plus Windows 10 (Pro and Enterprise), and Windows Server 2016 RTM. If you do not have Docker installed on your desktop, please install it now.
Due to the current state of Docker support for Windows 10 Home this platform is not supported.
Docker installation instructions can be found here.
The simplest way to verify your Docker installation is to run the following command:
docker run hello-world.
If running this command fails for any reason, you will need to resolve those issues before moving ahead to the next step.
GitPitch Desktop is delivered as a Docker image, suitable for use on Linux, OSX, and Windows 10 (Pro and Enterprise) desktops. The Docker image is maintained within a private repository on Docker Hub.
In order to download the image you must first register a valid Docker Hub ID with GitPitch. We will contact you by email as soon as we have verified your Docker Hub ID and granted you the necessary permissions to download the image.
To register your Docker ID simply login to the GitPitch website and complete the GitPitch Desktop Access Management form. You can login to the GitPitch website here.
Important! It may take up to 24 hours before you receive the confirmation email that will grant you access to the Desktop image. Thank you for your patience.
Please ensure your Docker ID has been confirmed by email before moving ahead with this download.
In order to download the Desktop image you first need to login to Docker Hub at your command line. You can login using the following command:
docker login
Once you can confirm a successful login you are ready to download the Desktop image:
docker pull gitpitch/desktop:pro
Allow the download process to complete. This may take a few minutes the first time you run this command. In the future, you can use this same command to pull any updates to the Desktop image.
Once the download process has completed you are then ready to move ahead to the final step, launching GitPitch Desktop.
The following Launch instructions assume you have completed the following:
If you have not completed all of these steps, please refer to the step-by-step instructions above.
When launching GitPitch Desktop you must indicate a path to a local working directory. This path tells GitPitch Desktop where on the local file system it needs to monitor for changes you make to your presentation files.
Typically this directory is a local Git repository. Although it can be any directory on the local file system.
The default launch command for GitPitch Desktop is as follows:
docker run -it -v {DESKTOPREPO}:/repo -p 9000:9000 gitpitch/desktop:pro
Note, {DESKTOPREPO} is a placeholder. You must replace it with an absolute path to a working directory on your local file system where your Git repository files are found.
For example, here is a sample launch command on Mac OSX:
docker run -it -v /Users/david/hello-world:/repo -p 9000:9000 gitpitch/desktop:pro
And here is a sample launch command on Windows:
docker run -it -v c:/david/hello-world:/repo -p 9000:9000 gitpitch/desktop:pro
Upon successful launch you should be able to access GitPitch Desktop in your browser at the following URL:
To open your browser at the default Desktop URL, just click here.
To set a custom port when launching Desktop simply update the -p port mapping and add a matching PORT environment variable on your launch command.
For example, the following command demonstrates how you can launch GitPitch Desktop using port 80:
docker run -it -v {DESKTOPREPO}:/repo -p 80:80 -e PORT=80 gitpitch/desktop:pro
Note, {DESKTOPREPO} is a placeholder. You must replace it with an absolute path to a working directory on your local file system where your Git repository files are found.
Any time you create, update, or delete a file within your local repository, Desktop will attempt to automatically refresh the presentation in your browser.
If your browser does not auto-refresh (or fails to refresh cleanly) when you write a presentation file, simply save your file again and watch for a refresh. If your browser still does not auto-refresh, use your browser’s reload button to force a refresh.
If you launch GitPitch Desktop and supply a path to a local working directory that does not contain a PITCHME.md file, the Desktop will automatically present you with a Quickstart option.
By clicking Quickstart a simple presentation template is auto-generated. The files assocated with this template are automatically copied into your local working directory. You can immediately start customizing those files with your own presentation content.
If you launch GitPitch Desktop and supply a path to a local working directory that contains multiple PITCHME.md files, the Desktop will automatically present you with a list of all the presentations found.
Simply click on any presentation within the list to open and preview the corresponding presentation slideshow.
GitPitch Pro subscribers can make use of GitPitch Confidential Mode for password-protected presentations as detailed in the GitPitch Security Guide.
Confidential mode allows presentation authors to customize and brand the password challenge form. GitPitch Desktop allows you to develop and preview the challenge form by providing the following dedicated URL:
http://localhost:9000/desktop/confidential
Periodically we release new features or fix bugs in GitPitch Desktop. When a new release is available we typically announce it’s availability on our Twitter account.
To download the latest Desktop image you first need to login to Docker Hub at your command line. You can login using the following command:
docker login
Once you can confirm a successful login you are ready to download the latest Desktop image:
docker pull gitpitch/desktop:pro
Allow the download process to complete, then launch the new image as before.