MacOS Install

Errand Desktop is a lightweight menu bar application that runs Errand AI locally on your Mac. It handles all the infrastructure for you — no terminal commands required. The app stays out of your way in the menu bar (no dock icon) and manages the full lifecycle of Errand’s services.

Prerequisites

• macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, on either Apple Silicon or Intel. Errand Desktop ships as a single universal build, so there is nothing architecture-specific to choose.

• A container runtime. Which ones are available depends on your Mac:

  Your Mac	Docker	Apple Containerization
  Apple Silicon, macOS 26 (Tahoe)	Yes	Yes
  Apple Silicon, macOS 15 (Sequoia)	Yes	No — needs macOS 26
  Intel, macOS 15 or later	Yes	No — needs Apple Silicon

  Apple Containerization is built into macOS and needs nothing installed. For Docker, install Docker Desktop, Colima, OrbStack, or Rancher Desktop — Errand Desktop works with any of them.

• An API key from at least one LLM provider (e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI)

Step 1: Install Errand Desktop

The quickest way is with Homebrew:

brew tap errand-ai/errand
brew trust errand-ai/errand
brew install --cask errand-desktop

These are one-time steps — afterwards, brew upgrade --cask errand-desktop keeps the app current.

The brew trust line is needed on Homebrew 6 and later, which will not load a cask from a third-party tap until you have explicitly trusted it. On Homebrew 5 and earlier the command does not exist; skip that line.

Alternative: install from the DMG

If you would rather not use Homebrew:

1. Go to the Errand Desktop releases page
2. Download ErrandDesktop.dmg from the latest release
3. Open the .dmg and drag Errand Desktop into your Applications folder

The DMG is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without a Gatekeeper warning.

Either way, launch the app from Applications — you will see a new icon appear in your menu bar.

Step 2: Complete the Setup Wizard

The first time you launch Errand Desktop, a Setup Wizard walks you through everything. It has 8 steps:

1. Welcome — a brief introduction to Errand AI
2. Container runtime selection — the wizard only offers the runtimes your Mac supports. On macOS 26 with Apple Silicon you can pick either Apple Containerization or Docker; on Sequoia, or on Intel, only Docker is available and it is selected for you
3. LLM configuration — enter your API key for at least one LLM provider (e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI)
4. LiteLLM startup — optionally enable LiteLLM, a proxy that translates between different LLM providers so you can mix and match models
5. Agent memory configuration — optionally enable Hindsight, a service that gives your AI agents persistent memory across tasks
6. Version / image tag selection — choose which version of Errand to install (the latest stable version is selected by default)
7. Container image downloading — the app downloads the required container images (this may take a few minutes on the first run)
8. Done — setup is complete and your services are starting up

Step 3: Wait for services to start

After the wizard finishes, Errand Desktop starts the services in dependency order. The exact set depends on which options you chose (LiteLLM and Hindsight are optional), but the typical local install includes:

1. PostgreSQL (database)
2. Valkey (cache)
3. LiteLLM (LLM proxy, if enabled)
4. Hindsight (agent memory, if enabled)
5. Backend (Errand server, API, and in-process task manager)
6. OneDrive MCP (if OneDrive integration is configured)
7. Playwright (browser automation sidecar)

The menu bar icon shows the current health status of your services. When everything is green, Errand is ready to use.

Step 4: Open the Errand UI

1. Open your web browser
2. Navigate to http://localhost:8000
3. Log in with the credentials you configured during setup

You are now ready to create and run tasks with Errand AI.

Upgrading

Homebrew is the supported upgrade channel:

brew upgrade --cask errand-desktop

Errand Desktop does not update itself. It checks for new releases about once a day and posts a notification when one is available — if you installed with Homebrew, run the command above; if you installed from the DMG, click the notification to open the release page and replace the app in Applications.

Settings

Click the menu bar icon and select Settings to adjust your configuration at any time. The settings are organized into five sections:

Section	What you can configure
General	Container runtime, launch at login, image tag
LLM	LLM provider, API keys, model selection, LiteLLM deployment
Memory	Enable or disable Hindsight (agent memory), embedding and LLM model selection
Services	Cloud storage connections and per-service configuration
Ports	Customize the ports used by each service

Viewing logs

Errand Desktop includes a built-in log viewer that shows real-time logs from all running services. To open it, click the menu bar icon and select Logs. This is helpful for debugging if a service fails to start, or a task does not complete as expected.

Where data is stored

What	Location
Application data	~/Library/Application Support/ErrandDesktop/
Credentials	macOS Keychain (stored securely by the operating system)

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
App does not appear in the menu bar	Check that the app is running — open it from Applications. It has no dock icon, so it only appears in the menu bar
Services fail to start	Open the log viewer to check for errors. Ensure your container runtime (Apple Containerization or Docker) is working
Cannot connect to http://localhost:8000	Wait for all services to show as healthy in the menu bar. If the port is in use, change it in Settings > Ports
LLM errors during task execution	Verify your API key is correct in Settings > LLM. Check that your account has available credits with your LLM provider
Setup Wizard does not appear on first launch	Delete the folder at ~/Library/Application Support/ErrandDesktop/ and relaunch the app to reset
brew install refuses with a macOS version error	Errand Desktop requires macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later. Homebrew will not install it on macOS 14 or earlier
Homebrew reports the tap is untrusted	Run brew trust errand-ai/errand. Homebrew 6 and later require third-party taps to be trusted before their casks will load