Docs  Install and first run

Getting started

Install and first run

From the download to your first finished task: what each first run screen asks, why it asks it, and where everything lives in the window afterwards.

Download

Get Mori from the download page. It needs macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon, or Windows 10 or 11 (64 bit).

  • Mac: open StudioMori.dmg and drag Mori into Applications. The app is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double click.
  • Windows: run Studio Mori Setup.exe and follow the prompts. The installer is signed by Vyridian L.L.C.; while a new release builds its reputation, SmartScreen may ask once. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

Prefer the terminal? One line installs the same app.

# macOScurl -fsSL https://studiomori.ai/install.sh | sh # Windows (PowerShell)irm https://studiomori.ai/install.ps1 | iex

The terms

The first screen is the Terms of Service. Scroll to the end to continue: Agree waits until you have reached it. Decline quits the app. When the terms change in a later version, this screen comes back once for the new version.

First run setup: the tools

To build things, Mori needs Node, Python and Git, plus three small helpers (uv, rg and jq) behind the details toggle. The setup screen checks what your computer already has and lists each one as Already on this computer, or as missing.

Install what is missing downloads verified copies into Mori's own folder. Every download is checked against its checksum, needs no admin password, and changes nothing outside that folder; anything already on your computer stays exactly as it is. Afterwards she checks again what actually landed, so nothing is called installed until it is really there.

Offline, or the download servers unreachable? Everything else works, and you can run this again from Setup later. A task that needs a missing tool asks first. Large media tools like ffmpeg are never part of this step; they download the first time a media job needs them.

How much should Mori ask?

Mori works without stopping for a yes by default. This screen lets you choose how often she stops to ask first:

  • Don't ask: just do the work. No approval cards; edits, commands, installs and tests run, and every step is on the record. Only your Mac or Windows asks, for its own permissions. The safety rails stay on.
  • Careful: ask before anything that changes things. Diffs before file changes, and any command that is not read only asks first.
  • Guided: ask about risky things. Deletes, pushes and the other risky commands she recognises ask first; routine commands run.
  • Trusted: just do routine work. File changes land and are shown afterwards; risky commands still ask.

You can change this any time. The rails that refuse what should never run are on in every mode. See Asking and safety rails.

Sign in, or not

Sign in with email, GitHub or Google, or continue without an account.

  • Signed in, Mori can run on a plan's credits with nothing to set up, and the free plan includes starter credits to try Mori's models.
  • Without an account, everything works on your own keys, locally.

An account is also what pairs your phone, links Mori Chrome, syncs chats on a paid plan, and opens the account portal.

How should Mori think?

The last setup screen picks where her thinking comes from:

  • Use a Mori plan (recommended): sign in and Mori runs on your plan, with nothing to set up. Free to start.
  • My OpenRouter key: one key for every model; you pay OpenRouter for what you use.
  • My Anthropic key: Claude, straight from Anthropic.
  • Something else: OpenAI, Gemini, a model on this computer and more, on the Providers page.

Check key tests a key on the spot and says, in plain words, whether the provider accepted it, rejected it, or could not be reached (a key that could not be checked is kept, and your first message tries it). You can change the pick any time on the Providers page. See Providers and API keys.

Your first task

Then Try a first task: pick one and it waits in a new thread for you to send, or Start with my own.

  • Build a small website: a one page site, opened in Preview.
  • Research a question: a short report with its sources.
  • Make a picture: an image from a sentence (offered when your pick can make pictures).
  • Sort out a folder: a plan for your Downloads, with nothing moved yet.

While she works, keep typing: a note, a question, or a change of plan lands in the work without stopping it.

Permissions on the Mac

macOS asks for its own permissions the first time Mori needs them, and those are the only prompts you see:

  • Screen Recording, to see the screen when a job needs it;
  • Accessibility, to press buttons and type in your apps;
  • Microphone, to talk to her, and Camera, optional;
  • Automation, once per app she scripts.

Settings, System Access lists them. On Windows no extra permissions are needed. If clicks stop landing after an update, see Troubleshooting.

Finding your way around

  • Home: the greeting, one composer, the doors for common jobs (build an app, research, Create, automations, the browser, computer use), and the threads to continue.
  • The sidebar: projects and threads, then Creation, automations and the rest.
  • A thread: your messages and hers, with a box for each piece of work and the plan, activity and preview in the side panel.
  • Creation: pictures, video, the editor, worlds, ads, workflows and the library. See Creation.
  • Settings and Providers: permissions, spend, connections, keys and appearance.

Press Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows) and type a word to jump to any page, setting or thread.

Updates

Mori updates herself. A new version downloads in the background and installs when you quit, and the update card shows what is new. You can also check by hand from the app. The download page always hands out the current version, so a fresh install is up to date from its first session. See Updates.