# Install Homie > Start here when helping someone install Homie. This is the canonical installation guide. [setup.md](https://homie.rocks/setup.md) covers an already-installed house; it is not another setup method. Homie enables existing LLMs to make and play games, create media, and use a shared TV and phone controls. It uses the household’s own signed-in Claude, Codex or Grok CLI. Homie does not supply a model, install a provider CLI or copy a provider account. Games, media and phone controls can be used without one; AI creation needs an available provider. ## 1. Check the Mac and invitation Supported installer: Apple Silicon (arm64), macOS 15 or newer. A Mac mini attached to a TV is a typical setup; another Apple Silicon Mac can work. Use a dedicated Homie Mac or login for this trusted-household beta. There is no supported Intel Mac, Windows, Linux or Raspberry Pi installer here. Phones join in their browser and install no app. This is an email-invited private beta. Open the person’s invitation on the Mac, using its original private link. Do not ask them to paste the invitation into an AI conversation, print it in logs, or put it in a shell argument. The install page keeps the capability in its URL fragment and passes it to the native app through the normal handoff. Read [the access state](https://homie.rocks/api/beta/access) and [the release manifest](https://homie.rocks/releases/beta.json) fresh. Access `closed` means do not offer enrollment/download as available. For `invite-only`, the person needs a valid invitation; a downloadable package alone is not access. Do not enable public enrollment or manufacture a capability. For the download, require `published: true`, `status: "published"`, and `platforms["macos-arm64"]` with `artifact`, `sha256`, `bytes`, `signed: true` and `notarized: true`. Use that exact HTTPS artifact on downloads.homie.rocks. Do not guess “latest” package names or copy a version from an old conversation. If either source is unavailable or inconsistent, explain the failed check rather than inventing availability. ## 2. Install the signed package Use [the install page](https://homie.rocks/install/) opened from the invitation. Download the exact package named by the manifest. Verify its SHA256 and byte count against that manifest and use macOS’s normal signature/notarization checks. Never remove quarantine or weaken Gatekeeper to get a failed package installed. An assistant authorized to install Homie can perform the checks, download and open the package on the person’s behalf. These are argument arrays, not a shell script. Replace `PACKAGE` with the actual absolute local package path and `ARTIFACT_URL` with the exact manifest URL before executing anything; never execute placeholders. Choose an unused download path to avoid replacing another file. ~~~json ["/usr/bin/uname", "-m"] ["/usr/bin/sw_vers", "-productVersion"] ["/usr/bin/curl", "--fail", "--location", "--proto", "=https", "--proto-redir", "=https", "--max-redirs", "3", "--output", "PACKAGE", "ARTIFACT_URL"] ["/usr/bin/shasum", "-a", "256", "PACKAGE"] ["/usr/bin/stat", "-f", "%z", "PACKAGE"] ["/usr/sbin/pkgutil", "--check-signature", "PACKAGE"] ["/usr/sbin/spctl", "--assess", "--type", "install", "--verbose=2", "PACKAGE"] ["/usr/bin/open", "PACKAGE"] ~~~ Require architecture `arm64` and macOS major version at least15. Compare the entire SHA256 and byte count to the freshly read manifest, not just the filename. `pkgutil` must report a trusted Apple distribution signature; the current Homie Developer ID Installer identity is **RYAN SHAWN CAMPBELL (CXS2ZZ7553)**. `spctl` must exit successfully and report acceptance as a notarized Developer ID package. The manifest’s boolean flags alone do not verify the downloaded file. If the signature identity changes unexpectedly, stop and check the publisher’s verified release information rather than accepting any signed package. Only run the final `open` after these checks pass. A failed download may leave a partial file; do not open it. Open the package in macOS Installer from the intended logged-in console account. The person completes any normal macOS administrator authorization. Do not clone Homie’s source, run npm install, pipe a URL into a shell, use developer appliance scripts, or promise unattended installation without those OS permissions. The installer includes Homie’s runtime, pinned Node/browser, native app components and private helper commands. It does not bundle provider CLIs, provider credentials or copies of their account folders. Official games are obtained through Guide rather than copied from this repository. ## 3. Complete native Setup Installer launches Homie’s native Setup in the active Mac login. The normal app entry is `/Applications/Homie.app`; reopen Homie from Applications or Spotlight if necessary. Setup is a component inside that app, not an independently installed `/Applications/Homie Setup.app`. Keep the invitation page available. Its **Already installed? Open Homie** action passes the private invitation through the supported `homie://setup#invite=…` handoff. If that handoff is unavailable, the person can use Setup’s secure invitation field directly; the AI should not handle the secret. Follow Setup’s actual choices: create a house or continue the enrolled house already on the Mac, name the room, check the available AI providers, and complete enrollment, the secure phone connection and requested macOS permissions. Joining another Mac to an existing house is a separate **Join a house** ceremony with that house’s short-lived pairing invitation; do not confuse it with the beta invitation. Preserve existing-house identity and owner devices on a reinstall or update. A provider marked missing or signed out is not ready. The person installs/signs into their chosen vendor’s native CLI through that vendor’s normal flow. Setup can continue without a provider. Finding one provider does not disable the others; a preferred provider for unnamed requests is optional. ## 4. Open the TV and join a phone Use Setup’s Play/open-TV action. Scan the TV’s guest-phone QR or use the actual address shown there. Do not invent a house hostname. A phone profile/name is not owner authority: House settings that require an owner use the normal device-pairing ceremony with the visible TV code. The phone’s Homie menu provides Guide, TV remote, AI activity, House and Help & feedback. Start games from Guide and use each game’s actual private controls. Phone/browser reconnect and cross-house play use the normal product flows; they do not require copying or launching an independent second game on the receiving Mac. The installed updater checks the trusted release feed on its normal schedule and applies when the activity boundary permits. “Hourly checks” is not a promise that it interrupts play or installs every hour. Do not replace it with a custom download or downgrade script. ## 5. Let the existing assistant use Homie Read [setup.md](https://homie.rocks/setup.md) for exact post-install helper commands and workspace discovery. Homie supplies its own workspace MCP connection and bundled skills. No manual global MCP registration is required. The person can use the ordinary Homie phone assistant, or their native assistant in the Homie workspace. Do not turn on telemetry, connect paid services, grant permissions or send diagnostics just to make setup look complete. Report the actual status and let the person make those choices. Never request provider tokens, owner keys, certificate private keys or recovery codes in a model conversation.