Install & first launch
Pick the installer for your OS. Chronicle Keeper isn't code-signed yet, so every platform shows a one-time warning the first time — here's how to clear it.
Download the right file from the Releases page, then follow the steps for your system below.
The app isn't signed yet (signing is planned). Your OS will warn you once on first launch. The steps below are the normal way to allow an unsigned app — nothing is wrong.
macOS (.dmg)
Open the disk image
Double-click the
.dmgand drag Chronicle Keeper into your Applications folder.First launch: right-click → Open
A plain double-click is blocked. Instead right-click (or Control-click) the app → Open → Open. You only do this once.
Still blocked?
Allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway, or run this in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Chronicle Keeper.app"
Windows (.msi or .exe)
Run the installer
Launch the
.msior.exeyou downloaded.If SmartScreen appears
When Windows says "Windows protected your PC," click More info → Run anyway.
Linux (.AppImage or .deb)
AppImage — make it executable, then run it:
chmod +x Chronicle*.AppImage
./Chronicle*.AppImageDebian / Ubuntu — install the package:
sudo dpkg -i chronicle-keeper_*.debOn some Linux setups the window renders blank. Chronicle Keeper already bakes in the common fix (forces X11 + disables DMABUF only if you haven't set those yourself), so it should just work.
First run: the speech model
On your first transcription, the app downloads the Parakeet TDT v3 speech model once (a few hundred MB) into its app-data folder and reuses it forever after. There's no HuggingFace cache and no GPU requirement — it runs on plain CPU. After that download, transcription works fully offline.
Build from source
Prefer to build it yourself? You'll need Rust and Tauri:
cargo tauri dev # build + run the desktop app
cargo tauri build # build installers for your OSSee CONTRIBUTING.md for the full developer setup.