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Curator.

First-run setup

The first time you open Curator, it walks you through a short setup. You create a profile, set up the local AI engine, and tell Curator where your files are.

[!NOTE] The whole thing takes about two minutes.

  1. Welcome. The first screen previews the three steps ahead: your profile, on-device AI, and your files. Click Get Started.

  2. Create your profile. Enter a name. That is all Curator needs. There is no email, no password, and no account to sign up for. Your profile is a local, name-only identity that stays on your Mac. Learn more in Profiles.

  3. Set up Ollama. Curator checks your Mac’s RAM and looks for Ollama, the local AI engine that powers search and chat. You have three ways to set it up.

    • Install Ollama for me installs it automatically in one click. Curator handles the download and setup for you.
    • Connect to it on another computer lets you point Curator at an Ollama server running elsewhere on your network. Enter its address and Curator tests the connection.
    • Or download and install it yourself opens the Ollama download page so you can install it by hand. Curator waits until it comes online.

    Once Ollama is ready, Curator shows a model recommendation screen titled Based on your Mac. It suggests AI models sized to your RAM, each with a one-line description of its job and its download size. Download the ones you want, or choose Skip for now. If you skip, AI features stay off until you download models later. Learn more in Ollama and models.

  4. Choose where your files are. Tell Curator what to index. Pick A folder on this Mac (recommended) and point it at a folder, or pick Cloud object storage (advanced) to connect a storage bucket you own. Curator reads files in place and never moves them. Learn more in Storage sources.

  5. You’re all set. The final screen confirms setup is done. Click Open Curator. Curator starts indexing your files in the background and keeps working while you use the app.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”

Curator is now indexing your files. Head to the Quickstart to run your first search and ask your first question.