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macOS

The shortest path on a modern Apple Silicon Mac is the signed desktop build:

Download the Apple Silicon macOS .dmg

This is the packaged path we dogfood most. It bundles its own Node runtime and git, supervises the UTA service plus Alice backend, opens the UI in a native window, and uses the same ~/.openalice data store as a source checkout.

Requirements

  • Apple Silicon Mac.
  • macOS with permission to run a signed downloaded app.
  • At least one agent runtime path:

Intel Mac users should use Source & Dev for now.

Install

  1. Download the .dmg.
  2. Open it and move OpenAlice into Applications.
  3. Launch OpenAlice.
  4. If macOS asks for confirmation, allow the signed app to open.
  5. Wait for the app window to load Ask Alice.

OpenAlice stores user data outside the app bundle, under ~/.openalice. Updating or replacing the app does not erase your workspaces, config, Inbox, sessions, or broker-account data.

Authenticate an agent

OpenAlice's model loop runs inside native agent CLIs. If you use Claude Code:

claude

Complete the login flow once. New workspaces can then use that CLI subscription login.

If you prefer API keys, open Settings -> AI Provider in OpenAlice and add a credential. The key is tested before saving and injected into future workspaces.

When to use source instead

Use Source & Dev if:

  • the desktop app gets stuck before the UI loads;
  • you need terminal logs;
  • you want to patch or inspect the code;
  • you are testing broker or UTA behavior;
  • you are filing a bug and want reproducible output.

The desktop build is the shortest path, but source is still the better debugging path while OpenAlice is beta.

Next Steps