Getting Started

Three steps: install the app, open a project, make a canvas. Nothing here needs a terminal. If you want the command line, the plugins or a self-hosted hub, they are waiting under Advanced / Explore Maude once you have a canvas to play with.

1. Install the desktop app

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. Start Maude. It opens on Home.

Platform requirements, Linux media playback and the first-launch prompt on unsigned builds are on the Desktop app page. The app keeps itself up to date.

2. Open or make a project

Home asks one question: What shall we make? A project is the folder of canvases you work in. Pick one way in:

• Say what to make. Describe it in a sentence. The chip under the prompt names the project the new canvas lands in. AI puts a first draft on a new canvas.
• Start with an empty canvas (⌘N) — no AI needed.
• Open project… (⌘O) — any folder works. Recent projects and recent canvases sit under the prompt.
• Sign in to Maude Cloud (your browser opens a page that shows a code; Maude shows the same code while it waits — check that the two match before you confirm) to keep the project in Maude Cloud: every Mac you use, and everyone you invite, sees the same canvases. A local project works right now and moves to Maude Cloud any time (Share › Move to Maude Cloud…). The cloud trial is 14 days with no card.

A local project is kept in your Maude folder on this Mac. The folder path is under Advanced when you ask for it — never in your way.

3. Make your first canvas

New canvas (⌘N, the menu, ⌘K or the + in Canvases) asks for its name in a small dialog first; ↵ keeps Untitled canvas. The canvas then opens with one line in the middle: Your canvas is ready. Ask AI for a first draft, or start drawing.

• Ask AI. Type what you want and press ↵. The draft arrives piece by piece — artboards land with a small "Made by AI" mark. The AI chat panel keeps what was said.
• Or draw. The Edit toolbar at the bottom has Select (V), Hand (H), Artboard / Frame (F), Shape (R), Pen (P), Text (T), Image (I) and More. Press F and drag to make an artboard. Image takes a picture or a video; you can also drag a picture or a video from Assets, or a file from Finder, onto an artboard or frame. In Preview the same drag adds it as an annotation. A video plays with its play button.
• Change it. Select anything and the Inspector comes with the selection. Drag a number's label left or right to change it (⇧ ×10, ⌥ ×0.1, esc puts it back). With it selected, press ⌘/ to ask AI to change just that.
• Light or dark. The Light | Dark pill at the top of every canvas switches every artboard at once, and shows the canvas's path — click it to copy. Copy relative path is also in a canvas row's ⋯ menu.
• Take it back. ⌘Z undoes AI's changes like any other — one AI run is one undo step. Version history (⌥⌘H) lists every saved version with Restore.
• Look around. ⌘K searches canvases, actions and AI; every result says where the thing lives. ? lists all shortcuts.

That is the whole loop. Around the window names each piece you just used, with the exact words the app uses.

Share it

Press Share… (top right). Invite people by email, or Copy link in the link row. People you invite open the project in their own Maude, or in a browser if they only need to look. See Share links and Maude Cloud.

When you want more

Everything below is optional. The desktop app does not need any of it.