Install the Mac app

Reelfold for Mac is the desktop app: a request box, a board for running batches, a review inbox and assisted publishing. It is free and MIT licensed. This page gets it running and connected to an AI model.

Requirements

A Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later). Windows comes later.
Disk space for the app, the speech model (about 1.6 GB) and your renders.
An AI model you already have access to. Any one of these works: a Claude Code or Codex login, an API key, or a local model. You can also start with none; planning then falls back to simple rules.

Get the app

Download (once released)

Open github.com/zyziyun/reelfold/releases/latest and download the .dmg for Apple Silicon (mac-arm64).
Open the DMG and drag Reelfold into Applications.
Start Reelfold from Applications.

The installed app carries its own engine: Python, ffmpeg and the vstudio engine are bundled, so you do not need to install them yourself.

Build from source (available now)

You need Node 22+, Python 3.10+ and ffmpeg (for example brew install node python ffmpeg).

Clone the repository and install the engine and the app’s packages:
Terminal window
```
git clone https://github.com/zyziyun/reelfold && cd reelfold
./install.sh && npm install
```
install.sh installs the Python dependencies and downloads fonts and face models into ~/.cache/video-studio.
Start the app:
Terminal window
```
npm run desk
```
The app opens as Reelfold and starts its engine in the background, using the lib/ folder of this checkout.

If the app picks the wrong Python, set the Python path in Settings.

First launch

When Reelfold starts, it launches a local engine on your Mac (a small server on 127.0.0.1 that only the app talks to). The status shows Ready on this Mac once it is up.

The installed app offers a one-time download of what the engine needs, in a banner and under Settings → Models, fonts and tools:

Download	Size	Needed for
Fonts and MediaPipe face models	about 62 MB	Captions, covers, face tracking, retouch
Whisper large-v3-turbo	about 1.6 GB	Transcription
Chromium (optional)	180–360 MB	HTML covers, slides and HyperFrames-based workflows

Downloads resume if interrupted and are checked before they are installed. In a source build, install.sh has already fetched the fonts and face models, and the engine downloads a Whisper model on the first transcription if none is installed.

Connect your AI

Open Settings → AI accounts & models. Each provider shows a status (logged in, login expired, key saved, local server running).

Option	What you do	Billing
Subscriptions (no API key)	Click Log in next to Claude Code or Codex. A terminal opens in the app and your browser asks you to sign in.	Your Claude Pro / Max or ChatGPT subscription
API keys	Paste a key for Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM, OpenRouter, Gemini or ElevenLabs. Keys are kept in the macOS keychain and handed only to the engine.	Pay per use
Local models	Run Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM or llama.cpp on this Mac or your own server. Reelfold lists the models it finds.	Free; nothing leaves your network

Use Test on a provider to send one tiny request and confirm it answers.

Under Which AI does what you choose a default and, if you like, a different provider per task (planning, segment picking, caption proofreading, glossary, post copy, AI edits), with fallbacks in order. When a fallback answers, the app tells you which one did. A new API key needs an engine restart; the page offers the button.

What each step sends to the provider, and what stays local: AI providers.

Update

Installed app: Reelfold checks for updates at launch and every few hours, downloads them in the background and offers Restart to update to the new version.
Source build: pull and reinstall, then start again:
Terminal window
```
git pull && ./install.sh && npm install
npm run desk
```

Uninstall and where your data lives

Drag Reelfold from Applications to the Trash. Your projects and settings stay on disk until you remove them:

Folder	What is in it
`~/Library/Application Support/Reelfold`	App settings, downloaded models and fonts (`assets`), encrypted API keys, the publish browser’s platform logins
`~/.config/vstudio`	The engine’s home: the project list, publish calendar and your filler-cut preferences; new projects go to `projects/` here by default
`~/.cache/video-studio`	Engine cache: fonts, models, transcripts. Shared with the Claude Code skill
`~/.cache/huggingface/hub`	Whisper models downloaded by a source build or the skill

Your original footage is never moved or modified. If you came from an older Daycut build, its profile folder is left in place as a backup the first time Reelfold copies it.