# Install Formats Studio

> What your Mac needs, installing the app, signing in, where projects live, and staying up to date.

Formats Studio docs · Start · https://formats.app/docs/install · Updated 2026-09-27

## What you need

| Requirement | Details |
| --- | --- |
| Mac | Apple silicon (M1 or later) |
| Disk space | About 1 GB for the app, plus about 944 MB if you download Local AI |
| Account | A free Formats account; you sign in with Google |
| Agent | Codex is built in. Claude Code 2.1.259 or later and GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.81 or later are found automatically when installed |

> **Note:** The editor works without an agent. Your agent adds the ability to ask for edits in plain words; everything it does, you can also do by hand.

## Install the app

1. Download Formats Studio for Mac from [formats.app](https://formats.app) and open the disk image.
2. Drag **Formats Studio** into **Applications**, then open it from there.
3. If you open it from the disk image or from Downloads, the app offers **Move to Applications** first. Accept it: updates can only install into a copy in Applications.

## Sign in and choose where projects live

1. Sign in with Google. Your account holds your plan and credits; your projects stay on your Mac.
2. Formats creates your workspace in **Movies › Formats Studio**. To keep projects elsewhere, choose another folder when asked, or later from the workspace control on the Projects page.
3. Everything the app writes lives in that folder as plain files: projects, thumbnails, waveforms, transcripts, generated media and exports. Your source footage stays where it is and is linked, not copied.

> **Tip:** Because the workspace is an ordinary folder, you can back it up or sync it like any other. See [Workspaces and storage](https://formats.app/docs/workspaces).

## Local AI, if you want it

After sign-in the app offers **Local AI**, an optional download of about 944 MB that understands your footage on your Mac, so you can search it by what it shows. Choose **Download Local AI** or **Set up later**; editing works either way. See [Local AI and speech](https://formats.app/docs/local-ai).

## Connect your agent

- **Codex** is built into the app and signs in with your ChatGPT account.
- **Claude Code** is found on your Mac and keeps the sign-in it already has.
- **GitHub Copilot** is found on your Mac and asks you to sign in once.
- Pick the agent and model from the picker in the chat composer. Your agent runs on its own plan; Formats never sees those credentials.

Next: [Work with your agent](https://formats.app/docs/agent).

## Updates

- Formats Studio checks for updates on its own and downloads them in the background while you work.
- A notification says when an update is ready; it installs the next time you restart the app.
- To check now, choose **Check for Updates…** from the app menu.

## Uninstall

Quit Formats Studio and drag it from **Applications** to the Trash. Your workspace folder and its projects stay on disk until you delete them yourself.

## Related

- [Getting started](https://formats.app/docs/getting-started): Your first video: start from Home, let your agent make the first cut, then refine and export it.
- [Work with your agent](https://formats.app/docs/agent): Choose Claude Code, Codex or GitHub Copilot, ask for edits in plain words, and review, apply or undo what it does.
- [Workspaces and storage](https://formats.app/docs/workspaces): Where your projects live on your Mac, switching workspaces, missing media and cache maintenance.