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Install a pre-built release

Download the latest installer from the TouchAI GitHub releases page.
  1. Download the .dmg file from the releases page.
  2. Open the .dmg and drag TouchAI to your Applications folder.
  3. Launch TouchAI from Applications or Spotlight.
  4. On first launch, macOS may prompt you to confirm opening a downloaded app — click Open.
TouchAI runs as a system tray application. After launch, the app window is hidden by default. Look for the TouchAI icon in the menu bar.

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Build from source

Building from source gives you the latest development code and full control over the build.

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Prerequisites

Before building, install the following tools:
ToolVersionPurpose
Node.js18 or laterJavaScript runtime
pnpm10.x (see packageManager in package.json)Package manager
Rust toolchainstableTauri backend compiler
Install Rust via rustup: 
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
Install pnpm via npm: 
npm install -g pnpm

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Clone and install dependencies

git clone https://github.com/TouchAI-org/TouchAI.git
cd TouchAI
pnpm install

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Run in development mode

pnpm tauri dev
This starts the Vite dev server on http://localhost:1420 and launches the Tauri window with hot-reload enabled.

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Build for production

pnpm tauri build
The build process:
  1. Compiles the Vue 3 frontend with Vite (pnpm build).
  2. Compiles the Rust backend with release optimizations.
  3. Bundles a signed, platform-native installer into src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.
The release profile uses lto = "fat", opt-level = "z", and strip = true for minimal binary size. Expect build times of several minutes on first compile.

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Optional: run type checks and linting

pnpm type:check

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First launch

Regardless of how you installed TouchAI, the first-launch flow is the same:
  1. The app starts minimized to the system tray (skipTaskbar: true is set by default).
  2. Press Alt+Space to open the overlay, or right-click the tray icon to access settings.
  3. Configure an AI provider in Settings → AI Providers before sending your first query.
See the Quickstart for a guided walkthrough of the first-run experience.

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