diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7fbacb9..9728c76 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,5 @@ __pycache__/
 dist/
 build/
 third_party/
+VoiceGrab.spec
+VoiceGrab-AI.spec
diff --git a/installer/build_linux.sh b/installer/build_linux.sh
index be3b8b8..0d7a0c8 100644
--- a/installer/build_linux.sh
+++ b/installer/build_linux.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# VoiceGrab — Linux build (produces dist/VoiceGrab-<arch> binary; AppImage if linuxdeploy available)
-#   WITH_AI=1 ./installer/build_linux.sh   → also bundle torch+demucs (bigger build)
+# VoiceGrab — Linux build
+#   ./installer/build_linux.sh          → core app, onefile  (dist/VoiceGrab)
+#   WITH_AI=1 ./installer/build_linux.sh → AI voice separation (torch+demucs)
+#                                          onedir   (dist/VoiceGrab-AI/)
+#
+# Why onedir for the AI build: bundling torch into a onefile blob makes every
+# startup re-extract ~2 GB (60–120 s). A onedir app starts instantly and the
+# directory doubles as the plan's "sidecar" artifact.
 set -euo pipefail
 cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
 
@@ -8,13 +14,18 @@ PY="${PYTHON:-.venv/bin/python}"
 [ -x "$PY" ] || { echo "Create the venv first: python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt"; exit 1; }
 command -v ffmpeg >/dev/null || { echo "ffmpeg not found in PATH (needed to resolve the binary)"; exit 1; }
 
-"$PY" -m pip install pyinstaller
+"$PY" -m pip install -q pyinstaller
+
 if [ "${WITH_AI:-0}" = "1" ]; then
-  echo "Building with AI voice separation (torch+demucs)…"
-  "$PY" -m pip install -r requirements-ai.txt
+  echo "Building WITH AI voice separation (torch+demucs, onedir)…"
+  "$PY" -m pip install -q -r requirements-ai.txt
   AI_FLAGS=(--collect-all demucs --collect-all torch)
+  LAYOUT=--onedir
+  NAME="VoiceGrab-AI"
 else
   AI_FLAGS=()
+  LAYOUT=--onefile
+  NAME="VoiceGrab"
 fi
 
 FFMPEG_BIN="$(command -v ffmpeg)"
@@ -25,17 +36,23 @@ if [ -n "${FFPROBE_BIN:-}" ]; then
   EXTRA+=(--add-binary "$FFPROBE_BIN:.")
 fi
 
-"$PY" -m PyInstaller --noconfirm --onefile --windowed --name VoiceGrab \
+"$PY" -m PyInstaller --noconfirm --clean --windowed \
+  --name "$NAME" $LAYOUT \
   --add-binary "$FFMPEG_BIN:." \
-  "${EXTRA[@]}" \
-  "${AI_FLAGS[@]}" \
+  ${EXTRA[@]+"${EXTRA[@]}"} \
+  ${AI_FLAGS[@]+"${AI_FLAGS[@]}"} \
   --add-data "assets/icon.png:assets" \
   --icon assets/icon.ico \
   voicegrab.py
 
 echo
-echo "Binary: dist/VoiceGrab"
-echo "Test:   ./dist/VoiceGrab"
+if [ "$LAYOUT" = "--onedir" ]; then
+  echo "App dir: dist/$NAME/"
+  echo "Test:    dist/$NAME/$NAME"
+else
+  echo "Binary: dist/$NAME"
+  echo "Test:   ./dist/$NAME"
+fi
 
 # Optional: wrap in an AppImage
 if command -v linuxdeploy >/dev/null 2>&1; then