WorkBuddy Download: What You Can Actually Get Today
The WorkBuddy download page covers Windows and macOS properly, but it does not hand Linux users a general installer. The official site points them to the UOS and Kylin app stores instead. Real DEB and RPM builds do exist, served from the vendor's own storage. Both are official, and neither has a public download button.
01 /What does the WorkBuddy download page actually list?
Five platform rows describe the current situation, and only two of them are fully documented by the vendor. Windows and macOS get a direct installer from the official page, with the usual check for Intel or Apple Silicon on the Mac build. Linux appears twice, once as the UOS and Kylin app-store path and once as the unlinked DEB and RPM route, while mobile shows demand but no confirmed package.
| Platform | How you get it | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Official download page | Direct installer, documented path |
| macOS | Official download page | Direct installer; check Intel versus Apple Silicon |
| Linux (UOS / Kylin) | Vendor app stores | The only Linux path the official site documents |
| Linux (general DEB / RPM) | Vendor update endpoint | Real official packages, no public download button |
| Android / iOS | Not confirmed | Autocomplete shows demand; no published build verified |
Android and iOS are included because the search demand is real, not because a build exists. I have not confirmed a published mobile package, so that row stays explicitly unverified. Everything in this table was checked on 2026-11-10, and the entries describe what is reachable rather than what is promised. Each WorkBuddy download row above rests on that same audit.
02 /Why does the WorkBuddy download page omit general Linux builds?
The official page tells Linux users to get the client from the UOS or Kylin app stores, which is accurate for those two distributions and useless for everyone else. What it does not say is that Tencent builds general-purpose DEB and RPM packages and publishes them through the same update endpoint the desktop client uses. Those packages are official and served from download.codebuddy.cn over HTTPS, yet no page links to them. You can retrieve the current metadata directly with the same request the client makes.
curl -fsS 'https://www.workbuddy.cn/v2/update?platform=workbuddy-linux-x64-deb' | python3 -m json.toolSwap deb for rpm to reach the RPM build, and the response returns the version, the direct URL and a SHA-256 hash you can check against the file. At the time of writing the current version is 5.6.2.40046327, built 2026-09-30, approximately 410 MB. The full walkthrough, including the hash check and the ARM situation, lives on the WorkBuddy Linux page.
03 /What does the WorkBuddy download endpoint return?
A field-by-field audit of the update endpoint, checked on 2026-11-10, shows eight keys in the response. Two of them, hash and name, come back as empty strings, and supportsFastUpdate: false is set on the Linux channel, both of which are easy to miss if you only glance at populated values. The remaining fields carry the version, the direct URL, the product version, the SHA-256 hash and a build timestamp. The table below lists all eight.
| Field | Observed value |
|---|---|
version | 5.6.2.40046327 |
url | Direct download URL on download.codebuddy.cn |
productVersion | 5.6.2.40046327 |
sha256hash | SHA-256 of the published DEB package |
timestamp | 1790769527 |
hash | Empty string |
name | Empty string |
supportsFastUpdate | false |
The empty hash and name fields are worth noting because a naive script expecting eight populated values will trip over them. That flag is the more practical detail, since it is a reason to re-check the endpoint yourself rather than trust in-app updating on Linux. None of this is a compatibility guarantee, because DEB and RPM are packaging formats rather than promises about a distribution. If you want the raw response reproduced verbatim, the Linux endpoint notes keep it.
04 /How risky is a mirrored WorkBuddy download?
Third-party sites do offer installers, and the supply-chain question is whether you can trace a file back to the vendor. A checksum published by the same site that hosts the file proves only that the file matches what that site published, not where the bytes came from. Two community projects illustrate the gap, and their star counts come from the GitHub API, checked on 2026-11-10. Neither project is affiliated with Tencent, and I am describing their own stated behaviour rather than endorsing a download.
| Project | Stars | What it publishes | Provenance detail |
|---|---|---|---|
ziyue67/workbuddy-linux | 63 | A one-click install script and a four-channel version index | Explicitly excludes Tencent binaries; the latest Release has empty assets, no provenance file is published, measured values live in checksums.json, and the project calls the endpoint's own api_sha256 untrustworthy |
jiashuaibei/workbuddy-linux | 56 | A mirror of the official DEB and RPM packages that keeps the original bytes | The latest Release includes provenance-deb.json, provenance-rpm.json, SHA256SUMS, upstream-response-deb.json and upstream-response-rpm.json; it separates reportedSha256 from actualSha256 and states its own checksum files cannot independently prove official identity |
Together the two projects hold 119 stars, which matches the figure quoted as a cross-check in the wider notes. The first project is MIT-licensed Shell and is explicit that it carries no vendor binaries, so its install script cannot be pulling an official build. The second is Python under an "Other" licence and is more useful for provenance work, because it publishes the upstream responses that let you re-download from the vendor and compare byte-for-byte. Even there, a mirror's checksum proves internal consistency, not origin.
05 /How do you check a WorkBuddy download before installing?
Three checks are worth doing on any platform, and none of them require special tooling. First, confirm the publisher: the URL should resolve to download.codebuddy.cn or www.workbuddy.cn over HTTPS, and anything else is a mirror carrying extra risk. Second, verify the hash against the value in the update response, not against a number posted on a mirror. Third, know your rollback by keeping the previous installer, because the client updates itself and a broken update is easier to survive with a known-good file at hand.
The plain what is WorkBuddy description explains why local file access makes the publisher check more than a formality, and the all WorkBuddy answers index groups the rest of the verified questions. I have not tested installation on every distribution, so these checks are about provenance rather than a promise that the package will run. A format is not a compatibility guarantee, and I will not claim otherwise.
06 /What did I verify, and where does this page stop?
Every public-documentation fact on this page, including the eight-field response, the star counts and the official Linux note about UOS and Kylin, was checked on 2026-11-10. I verified the endpoint metadata, the platform table and the field list; I did not install the package on every Linux distribution. I also did not confirm a mobile build, a per-call credit figure, or any user review, so none of those appear as facts here. Where a statement is a boundary rather than a measurement, I have said so.
The scope is deliberately narrow. This page documents where a WorkBuddy download comes from and how to check it, not whether the product suits your workflow. For the definitional question, the what is WorkBuddy page is the better starting point; for the raw Linux response, the WorkBuddy Linux notes keep it verbatim.
07 /Frequently asked questions
Is a WorkBuddy download from a mirror safe?
It can be convenient, but a mirror cannot prove where its file came from. A checksum hosted alongside the file only shows internal consistency, since the same party controls both. Pulling from the vendor endpoint yourself and comparing the hash is the only step that reduces that dependency.
Why does the WorkBuddy download page only list UOS and Kylin for Linux?
Those are the two distributions the vendor documents as supported store targets. General DEB and RPM packages are built and published through the update endpoint, but no page links to them. The omission is a packaging and documentation gap, not evidence that the builds are unofficial.
What does supportsFastUpdate: false mean for a WorkBuddy download?
It means the endpoint does not advertise fast in-app updating for this Linux channel. In practice you should re-check the update endpoint yourself rather than assume the client will fetch a newer build. That flag is part of the response audited on 2026-11-10.
Should I install the DEB on Ubuntu?
DEB is a packaging format, not a promise that the client runs correctly on Ubuntu or any derivative. The vendor documents only UOS and Kylin as supported Linux targets, so general distribution support is unconfirmed. Install it, verify the hash first, and keep the previous installer in case you need to roll back.
08 /Sources
The platform table and the unlinked-build behaviour come from the official download page, read on 2026-11-10. The eight-field response and the two community project star counts were checked on 2026-11-10 against the vendor endpoint and the GitHub API. Numbers relayed by media coverage of an enterprise security white paper are not reproduced here, because they are not official documentation, and no per-call credits figure is printed because none was published. Local observations are limited to what was actually recorded on this machine.
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