twinly. / Docs

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Install & first launch

Twinly is a normal Mac app. Download it, drag it to Applications, open it. A guided setup greets you on first launch and walks through powering the twin and granting access, one tap at a time. About five minutes.

01What you need

  • A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) on a recent version of macOS.
  • An internet connection (the twin talks to your chosen AI model over the network).
  • An AI provider key from Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure, Gemini, Grok, or a custom endpoint, covered in Powering your twin. You can install first and connect the brain after.

Optional capabilities, voice calls, the Gmail connector, top-tier cloud voices, each have their own page in this sidebar and none of them block the first launch.

02Download and install

  1. Download Twinly from twinly.tech. You get a standard .dmg disk image.
  2. Open the disk image and drag Twinly into your Applications folder, the same as any Mac app.
  3. Open Applications and double-click Twinly. The first time, macOS may ask you to confirm you want to open an app you downloaded; click Open.

03First launch

On first open you get the main Twinly window with a short guided setup, plus the Twinly Island: a Dynamic-Island-style strip fused with the notch at the top of your screen (Macs without a hardware notch get a virtual one drawn into the menu bar). Press Command + \ anywhere on your Mac to message your twin straight from the island.

The setup walks you through three things in order: power the twin (your provider key), grant the permissions it needs to act, and, optionally, give it your voice. Each is one or two taps, and each has a full page here if you want the detail.

04The guided one-click setup

Twinly's Access tab has a Set everything up button that requests every permission the twin needs in one pass, opening the right System Settings pane for each so you just flip toggles. It is the fastest way to go from installed to working; the full list and what each grant unlocks is in Permissions.

To confirm you are ready, open the Showcase tab. Its readiness panel runs live checks, model connected, voice ready, calling enabled, screen access, accessibility, disk access, with a plain-English fix-it hint for anything still missing.

05Where to go next

  1. Connect the brain: Powering your twin.
  2. Grant access: Permissions.
  3. Give it your voice and set up calls: Voice & calls.