Desktop app

The desktop app is Maude with no terminal. Download it, open a project, and start designing — canvases, Version history, sharing and AI all live in the window. It keeps itself up to date in the background.

New here? Getting started walks from download to first canvas. Around the window names every piece of the screen.

Install

1. Download the installer for your platform — .dmg (macOS), .msi (Windows) or .deb (Linux).
2. Open it. On macOS, drag Maude to Applications; on Windows, run the installer; on Linux, sudo apt install ./Maude_*.deb.
3. Launch Maude. It opens on Home: say what to make, start with an empty canvas (⌘N), Open project… (⌘O), or sign in to Maude Cloud.
4. You land in a working project. No terminal at any step.

System requirements

Disk: ~250 MB. AI runs on your own Claude account (Pro or Max, or an API key) — see What AI needs.

Media playback on Linux

Linux renders canvases through WebKitGTK, which plays a canvas's audio and video through GStreamer. Installing the .deb with apt pulls the plugin packages in for you and there is nothing more to do.

Installing any other way — a repackaged .deb, a distro package, an extracted tree — you need them yourself, because most distros ship them as optional dependencies of WebKitGTK. Without them a canvas containing audio or video takes the whole view down with no error message.

On AMD graphics, Maude also sets WEBKIT_GST_DISABLE_GL_SINK=1 for itself at startup. GStreamer's GL video sink asks Mesa's radeonsi driver for a colour-buffer format it rejects, and the pixel readback that follows faults — an upstream bug that kills the view a few seconds into playback. The workaround decodes video in software instead; the cost is some CPU. To opt out and keep the GL sink, set the variable yourself before launching:

WEBKIT_GST_DISABLE_GL_SINK=0 maude-desktop

Any value you set wins — Maude only fills it in when you have expressed no preference.

What AI needs

Canvases, Version history and sharing work the moment you open the app — no extra setup. AI is the one part that reaches outside it, and it runs on your own Claude account.

The first time you use Ask AI, one sheet asks you to Connect your Claude account. Maude sets up what it needs and opens your browser to sign in; your prompt waits and runs as soon as you are connected. Nothing to install by hand, and nothing blocks the rest of the app while AI is not connected.

If AI stops working, Menu › Diagnostics › AI setup lists each piece with a status word and a fix for whatever is missing, and Check AI setup again re-runs it. The maude command-line tool is only needed for the longest multi-step /design:* workflows (screenshots, critic passes); the everyday "change this canvas" path works without it. See the CLI when you want it.

Auto-update

Maude polls a signed release feed and downloads new versions in the background. When one is ready a quiet callout says so, with one action: Restart now. Click it and you're on the latest build. To look yourself, use Maude › Check for Updates… in the Mac’s own menu bar or Settings › Advanced › Check for updates. There's no npm install, no terminal. Updates are signed with an ed25519 key; the app refuses any update whose signature doesn't verify, so a tampered feed can't push a rogue build.

Unsigned builds (early releases)

Until platform code-signing certificates are wired, installers may be unsigned:

• macOS — Gatekeeper blocks the first launch. Right-click the app → Open, then confirm. You only do this once.
• Windows — SmartScreen shows a warning. Click More info → Run anyway.

Signed builds remove these prompts; auto-update artifacts are always signed regardless.

Teams

The desktop app connects to a self-hosted hub under Settings › Connections — no maude design link in a terminal. Once linked, cursors, comments and edits sync in real time with everyone on the project. To invite people to a Maude Cloud project, use Share…; see Share links.

What's included

• Canvases — every canvas is a live, multi-artboard surface; the Canvases panel lists them, with Layers and Assets beside it.
• Version history — every saved version of the project with Restore, and ⌘Z for the last step (AI's changes included).
• Sharing — one Share sheet: Invite people, Copy link, Move to Maude Cloud…. Live collaboration over Maude Cloud or your own hub.
• AI — an AI chat panel and Ask AI (⌘/) on your own Claude account.
• Export — one Export sheet (⇧⌘E) for images, PDF, video and handoff.