diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 730f56f..f3b4057 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -70,8 +70,10 @@ uv tool install agsearch
 pipx install agsearch
 ```
 
-Install [`fzf`](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) separately for the interactive interface.
-Without it, `agsearch -n "query"` still works.
+The interactive interface needs [`fzf`](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#installation) **0.35 or
+newer** — that is the release which added the `start` event agsearch binds. Some distributions
+package an older one; `fzf`'s own install script is the fallback. Without fzf,
+`agsearch -n "query"` still prints ranked matches.
 
 ### Install script
 
diff --git a/agsearch b/agsearch
index 04339bb..3daedc5 100755
--- a/agsearch
+++ b/agsearch
@@ -1334,7 +1334,8 @@ def cmd_filter(argv):
 def run_fzf(lines, query, thinking=False, no_resume=False, fuzzy=False):
     if not shutil.which("fzf"):
         print("fzf not installed. Falling back to non-interactive output.\n"
-              "Install with: brew install fzf\n", file=sys.stderr)
+              "Install fzf 0.35+: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#installation\n",
+              file=sys.stderr)
         return print_matches(lines, query)
 
     self = os.path.abspath(__file__)
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 31554d9..9657c63 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ esac
 
 if ! command -v fzf >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   echo "note: fzf is not installed — the interactive TUI needs it."
-  echo "      macOS: brew install fzf   ·   Linux: see https://github.com/junegunn/fzf"
+  echo "      fzf 0.35 or newer: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#installation"
   echo "      (agsearch -n \"query\" works without fzf)"
 fi