Direct install

Direct install is for users outside your managed fleet: contractors on their own laptops, a small team without an MDM, or a proof of concept before you commit to a fleet rollout. Instead of a fleet-wide deploy token, each person gets the extension from the Chrome Web Store plus a personal one-time enrolment link.

If your browsers are centrally managed, use the managed rollout instead. It needs no user action and cannot be uninstalled by the user.

How direct install works

Two pieces per person:

1. The extension, installed from the Chrome Web Store. Store installs auto-update through Google.
2. An enrolment link, generated per user in the console. The link carries a one-time code starting with aire_enroll_. When the user activates it, the gateway issues that device its own API key and ties the device to their directory user.

The Airentect CDN build used for managed rollout does not work here: Chrome blocks manually installing an extension package from outside the Web Store, so the CDN channel is only usable via managed force-install.

Generate an install link

In the console, open Users. Add the person if they are not already there, open their entry, and click Generate install link. Send them the link through any channel you like; it contains only the opaque enrolment code, never an API key.

Two properties to plan around:

• Codes expire after 7 days. Generate links close to when people will actually use them, not weeks ahead.
• Codes are single use. Once redeemed, a code is dead. If someone needs to enrol a second machine or reinstall, generate a fresh link. Trying to reuse a code returns an error, which is the system working as intended.

What the user does

1. Open the install link and install the extension from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Activate the enrolment code, either through the Connect button on the install page or by pasting the code into the extension's Options and saving.
3. Done. The device receives its own API key, appears under Endpoints, and their prompts start being classified against the policy that applies to them.

Warning: One API key per device, always. If a user copies their configured extension state or key onto a second laptop instead of enrolling it properly, the two devices fight over the same session and their audit logs blend into one stream, which makes reports attribute prompts to the wrong machine. Every additional device gets its own fresh install link.

Pilots without the Web Store

For a short hands-on trial before any of the above, there is a third path: a zip of the extension loaded through Chrome's developer mode ("Load unpacked"). It is useful for a design-partner pilot of a handful of users because it needs no store listing and no MDM, but it shows a developer-mode notice on every launch and does not auto-update; each new build means loading the unzipped folder again. Treat it strictly as a pilot tool, and move pilots onto managed rollout or Web Store installs for anything ongoing.

Verify

After activation, the user's device appears under Endpoints within about a minute, attributed to their directory user rather than as an anonymous device. Ask them to send a harmless test prompt and confirm it arrives in the logs under their name.