Get started

Tau runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. Your phone pairs with it later.

Install#

Pick the installer for your system on the download list.

• Mac: open the .dmg and drag Tau into Applications. There is a build for Apple silicon and one for Intel. Both are signed and notarized by Apple.
• Windows: run the installer. It installs Tau for your user. The installer isn't signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn: choose More info, then Run anyway.
• Debian and Ubuntu: open the .deb in your software center, or run sudo apt install ./Tau-linux-amd64.deb. It adds Tau to the application menu and tau to the command line.
• Other Linux distributions: make the .AppImage executable and start it. It needs FUSE 2 (libfuse2).

If your system asks whether to open an app you downloaded from the internet, confirm once. From then on Tau updates itself; Updates and machines explains how.

First start#

A Tau without threads opens its welcome wizard. It has three steps:

1. Agents. Which agent tools are installed and signed in, with the command to install or sign in to each one that isn't.
2. Projects. The folders your agents worked in lately, newest first. Tick the ones you want in Tau.
3. Conversations. Earlier conversations from those tools, imported as threads you can continue.

Type /welcome in the composer to open it again later.

Connect your agents#

Tau uses the tools and sign-ins you already have. It never copies a login from one tool to another. Settings → Runtimes lists every runtime with its version; Settings → Providers has a card for each with its sign-in.

• Claude Code: install Anthropic's Claude Code and sign in there. Tau drives it for Anthropic's models, on your Claude plan. Don't sign Pi in with a Claude subscription: Anthropic sells it for Claude Code only.
• Codex: install the Codex CLI and sign in with codex login.
• Gemini: Settings → Providers → Antigravity → Install downloads Google's Antigravity runtime. Sign in with your Google account on the same card.
• Pi: built in. Add API keys or sign-ins for OpenAI, Google, OpenCode Go and other providers under Settings → Providers.
• OpenCode, Cursor and Grok: install their command-line tools. Tau finds them on the PATH of your login shell.

Your first thread#

1. Press <kbd>⌘</kbd><kbd>N</kbd> (<kbd>Ctrl</kbd><kbd>N</kbd> on Windows and Linux), or the + above the thread list, and pick a project.
2. Under the new thread's heading, choose where it runs and on which branch. A branch of its own gets a Git worktree of its own, so the thread doesn't touch your checkout.
3. Pick the runtime and model in the composer, type what you want done, and send.
4. Open Terminal or Files at the top right of the thread to watch the work.
5. When the thread is done, its branch waits in Reviews at the foot of the sidebar. Merge it, or send it back with a note.

Your phone#

1. On your computer, open Settings → Connections. Turn on Local network, or Tailscale to reach Tau from anywhere, and create a pairing link.
2. Scan its QR code with the Tau app, or with the phone's camera to open Tau in the browser.
3. Your computer shows six digits and asks whether to let the phone in. Allow it if the phone shows the same six.

The phone then shows the same threads, their questions and your reviews. It talks to your computer directly; there is no Tau server in between.

Next#

• Make a change: your own kit, or a change to Tau itself.
• Updates and machines: how Tau stays current, and how another computer joins in.
• Install and run: every installer, Linux details, and the tau command.
• Runtimes and tools: what each agent runtime needs, and pull request tools.

This page is docs/site/get-started.md in Tau's repository.