Deliver and run desktop applications in a distro-agnostic, sandboxed way using a single command-line tool. 15.03.2026 | reading time: 2 min Flatpak brings distro-agnostic, sandboxed application delivery to the Linux desktop; this page shows the commands to install, run and manage apps so the reader can get hands-on quickly. Hands-on Example Run these commands as a regular user to add the Flathub remote, install GIMP, run it, update all Flatpaks and then remove GIMP: ``` flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP -y flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP flatpak update flatpak uninstall org.gimp.GIMP ``` Expect OSTree downloads and progress bars during install and update, and `flatpak run` will launch the sandboxed application. Sandbox Details Flatpak separates apps from the host using runtimes and bubblewrap sandboxes; use `--user` to keep installs per account or `--system` for machine-wide installs, inspect apps with `flatpak info` and tune permissions with `flatpak override` or a GUI like Flatseal. Toolchain and Remotes Flatpak relies on remotes (Flathub is the largest), shared runtimes to save space, and OSTree for versioned content delivery; builders create bundles with flatpak-builder and developers publish to remotes for end users to consume. Wrap-up and Next Moves Try installing several apps, examine their runtimes and experiment with permission overrides to see how isolation affects behavior; to deepen Linux skills and prepare for certification consider studying for CompTIA Linux+ or LPIC-1 with intensive exam preparation at bitsandbytes.academy. Join Bits & Bytes Academy First class LINUX exam preparation. utilities security virtualization infrastructure
