Download and install
One line installs it and the same line updates it. No account, no sign-in, nothing to configure before it works, and macOS opens it without a word.
The install line
It fetches the signed package, checks it, installs it and gets out of the way. Run it again later and it updates in place.
curl -fsSL https://vobuda.com/install.sh | sh What you are downloading
Every figure here is read off the file that is actually there, by the same script that writes this page.
| File | vobuda-0.2.3-macos.pkg |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.2.3, released 3 September 2026 |
| Size | 17.9 MB (18,758,419 bytes) |
| SHA-256 | ad246578ef8c7bc0fb477466c3a28ab1b46d6e5fc95e8b7e573a7d04c977f3d5 |
| System | macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and newer |
| Architecture | One universal build: Apple Silicon and Intel |
| Signature | Developer ID Installer: Shifton Inc (L3LZXQV482), notarised by Apple and stapled |
| Price | Free, for personal and commercial work alike |
| Account | None |
Verify it yourself before you run it: shasum -a 256 vobuda-0.2.3-macos.pkg and compare against SHA256SUMS.txt. A checksum nobody can check is worse than none, because it looks like care and is not.
Three ways in, in order of least trouble
The line
curl -fsSL https://vobuda.com/install.sh | sh installs it into /Applications, needs no administrator rights, and is also how you update. Nothing is left behind in your shell profile.
The package
Download the .pkg and double-click it. Because it is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised, there is no cannot be verified dialogue and no trip through System Settings. Versions before 0.1.1 were signed with our own certificate and did warn.
Removing it
Drag vobuda out of /Applications. Your settings stay in ~/.config/vobuda until you remove that folder too, which is deliberate: reinstalling should not cost you the themes and shortcuts you made.
What happens the first time you run it
One window, called Main, with one terminal block in it. Nothing else is open, because everything else is something you ask for. The language is the machine's until you choose one, and the same answer is given in the window and in the menu bar, which are asked separately.
Two permissions are asked for only when you first use the feature that needs them, never at launch: the microphone, the first time you press dictation, and screen recording, the first time you capture a block as a picture. Both questions are answered by you and by nobody else. If you decline, the feature says so in words rather than failing silently.
There is no onboarding tour, no account step and no telemetry consent screen, because there is nothing behind any of them.
Versions, and what each one added
The program looks for a new version once a day and says so in a single strip. There is also Check for updates in its own menu.
| Rev | Date | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 0.2.3 | 3 Sep 2026 | The current build. Signed, notarised and stapled; the download page and the file every running copy reads for version news are written by the same script from the image that is actually there. |
| 0.2.2 | 3 Sep 2026 | A setting survives an update, and a check proves it rather than a reading of the code. Dictation names the language it is hearing in two letters. The monitor's address panel names the address the internet sees, with the machine's own below it. |
| 0.2.1 | 3 Sep 2026 | Read once more as an attacker would, the morning after the fault receiver went up. Four things closed, including a receiver address that reached curl as an argument, where a leading dash is a flag. |
| 0.2.0 | 2 Sep 2026 | The night nobody is there for: the machine is held awake while there is work, and an agent stopped by a usage limit goes back to work when the limit lifts. One line that installs and updates. A copy of the settings in iCloud Drive. |
| 0.1.2 | 2 Sep 2026 | The settings folder as one archive, and back. Restoring sets the old folder aside rather than deleting it, and says so before it starts. |
| 0.1.1 | 2 Sep 2026 | Signed by Apple and notarised. A Mac that has never seen it opens it without a word. |
| 0.1.0 | 2 Sep 2026 | The first build handed out. Six days from the first window to a program somebody else could install. |
Dates are the day the build was made.
Before you install
Do I need administrator rights?
No. The install line puts the app in /Applications without asking for a password. The .pkg installer asks the way any macOS package does.
Will macOS say the developer cannot be verified?
No. The build carries an Apple Developer ID signature, is notarised by Apple and the ticket is stapled to the installer, so it works on a machine that has never been online.
How do I update?
Run the same install line again. The program also checks once a day in a thread of its own and puts a strip above the layout when something is out of date, never over your work. Nothing installs itself.
Is there a Homebrew formula?
Not yet. The install line is the supported route today.
What if I do not trust a piped shell script?
Take the .pkg instead, check its SHA-256 against the file above, and check its signature with pkgutil --check-signature. It should report a Developer ID Installer for Shifton Inc, trusted by the Apple notary service.