Once the download finishes, the installer should open automatically.

Double-click Install macOS Catalina.app in your Applications folder. Click “Continue” and agree to the software license.

If you have a 2013+ Mac with an SSD and no 32-bit apps, download the installer from Apple’s legacy URL, backup, and run the installer. If not, stay on High Sierra.

softwareupdate --list-full-installers softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.7