# Get started

Setup takes about five minutes. You'll install RADIQ, allow three permissions, and RADIQ then works in the background from your menu bar.

## What you need

-   A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later). A Windows version is on the way.
-   A Google account to sign in.
-   Free disk space for your history. RADIQ shows how much it uses in **Settings → Disk & retention**, and you can set it to delete old recordings automatically.

RADIQ is in early access. [Request access](https://myradiq.com/early-access) and we'll send you a download link.

## 1\. Install

1.  Open the `.dmg` file you downloaded and drag **RADIQ** into **Applications**.
2.  Open RADIQ from Applications. The RADIQ icon appears in your menu bar.

## 2\. Set up

1.  **Sign in** with Google. Your browser opens to finish signing in, then sends you back to RADIQ.
2.  Tell us how you heard about RADIQ (one question).
3.  **Allow three permissions.** Click **Grant** on each one, and macOS opens the right page in System Settings.
    
    | Permission | What RADIQ uses it for |
    | --- | --- |
    | Microphone | Transcribing your voice in meetings and calls. |
    | Accessibility | Reading the text inside apps directly, which is faster and more accurate than reading pixels. |
    | Screen Recording | Indexing what's on your screen: windows, documents, chats, code. |
    
4.  **Restart RADIQ** when asked. macOS only applies Screen Recording after a restart.
5.  Wait for **Starting RADIQ** to finish. This can take a minute the first time.

While you set up, RADIQ connects the AI apps it finds on your Mac (Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor, Hermes, OpenClaw, Windsurf) in the background. You don't need to do anything for those apps except restart them.

## 3\. Connect your AI

Quit and reopen each AI app you use so it loads RADIQ. If you installed an AI app after RADIQ, or use Claude Code, follow [Connect your AI](https://myradiq.com/docs/connect). Then add the [RADIQ skill](https://myradiq.com/docs/skill) so your AI uses RADIQ well.

## 4\. Ask your first question

RADIQ only knows what happened after you installed it. Work normally for a while, then ask your AI, or RADIQ's own **Chat**:

> What was I working on in the last hour?

> Summarise my last meeting and list the action items.

## The menu bar icon

RADIQ runs from the menu bar, even with its window closed. Click the icon to:

-   see whether it's **Recording** or **Paused**;
-   **Pause for…** 5, 15 or 30 minutes or 1 hour, or **Stop**;
-   open **Chat**, **Search**, **Settings…** or the main window (**Open RADIQ**);
-   **Fix permissions**, if one was turned off;
-   **Quit RADIQ**. Nothing is recorded while it's quit.

## Updates

RADIQ downloads updates in the background and notifies you when one is ready to install (_"ready — restart to update"_). To install updates automatically, turn on **Settings → General → Auto-update**. **Check for updates** on the same page checks right away.

## Uninstall

1.  In RADIQ, open **Connections → AI tools** and click **Disconnect all…**, so your AI apps stop trying to reach RADIQ.
2.  Quit RADIQ from the menu bar and move it from Applications to the Bin.
3.  To delete your recorded history as well, delete the `.myradiq` folder in your home folder. This can't be undone.

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Source: https://myradiq.com/docs/get-started · Last updated 2026-10-25
