Installation

Install Astra Scout on macOS and set up the tools needed for iOS and Android devices.

Requirements

• macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon or Intel.
• About 30 GB of free disk space if you also need Xcode and simulators.
• Xcode, if you want to run on the iOS Simulator or a real iPhone. See Devices.
• Android Studio (SDK Platform-Tools and Emulator), if you want to run on Android.
• One AI CLI (Claude Code, OpenAI Codex or Gemini CLI), only if you want the AI features.

Install from the DMG

1. Download the latest version: Astra Scout for Apple silicon (M1, M2 and later). Check your chip under → About This Mac. For an Intel Mac, ask the team for an x64 build.
2. Open the .dmg and drag Astra Scout into Applications, then eject the DMG.
3. Open Applications → Astra Scout.

This is the native macOS app. It starts the bundled Astra Scout server itself.

If macOS blocks the first launch

• Signed and notarized builds only ask whether you want to open an app downloaded from the Internet. Click Open.
• Ad-hoc signed builds (the default when the builder has no Developer ID certificate) are blocked with a message such as "cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software" or "is damaged". You only need to do one of these once:

  • In Finder, Control-click Astra Scout → Open → Open.

  • Try to open the app, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security and click Open Anyway.

  • If the message says "is damaged", remove the quarantine flag:

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Astra Scout.app"

Updating

Astra Scout updates itself. Once a day it checks for a new version and shows a window with what changed; click Install Update, and the app installs it and restarts. To check now, choose Astra Scout → Check for Updates…. You can turn the daily check off in Settings → General.

Updates come only to a build signed with the team's Developer ID. A build you made yourself without a Developer ID does not update itself: install a newer DMG over it.

First launch

The Welcome to Astra Scout window asks you to create or open a workspace, which is a folder of .yaml flows. You can create a new folder or open an existing one. See Run flows.

In the background, the app runs Setup check and shows a reminder if a required item is missing, for example when Xcode is not installed.

Reporting a problem?

Attach ~/Library/Logs/Astra Scout/server.log and a screenshot of Help → Setup Check….

Building the app yourself

Developers can build the native app and its DMG from the repository with ./scripts/build-mac-app.sh --release. The script signs ad-hoc by default. Set SCOUT_SIGN_IDENTITY to a "Developer ID Application: Name (TEAMID)" identity to sign with it (the script never searches the keychain), and also set SCOUT_NOTARY_PROFILE to notarize. The result is studio/mac/build/Astra Scout-<version>-<arch>.dmg.

Next steps

• Quickstart
• Set up your devices