Lookout Docs

You give Lookout a task in a project folder. The agent reads, edits and runs your code there, shows each step as it works, and records your files before every turn so you can review or undo what it changed. It runs on the plans you already have with model providers, and you can switch models in the middle of a chat.

An account needs an invitation.

Install

Mac app

The Mac app runs on Macs with Apple silicon.

Open Download on Lookout's site, and sign in when it asks.
Click Download, open the disk image, and drag Lookout into Applications.
Before the first launch, run this once in Terminal:
```
xattr -cr /Applications/Lookout.app
```

Quickstart walks from here to your first reviewed change.

CLI

The lookout command runs on Linux and macOS, on x64 and arm64:

curl -fsSL https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/install.sh | sh

The installer also signs the machine in to your account. If it can't, run lookout login. Provider sign-ins happen in the Mac app and reach the machine through your account; without one, it runs the free models and providers whose key is in its environment (Providers on this machine). CLI covers the rest.

What you can do

Learn a codebase

Open a project and ask about it. The agent reads the files it needs to answer.

Give me a tour of this workspace: its structure, the key modules and how they fit together.

Make a change and review it

The agent edits files and runs commands. When the turn ends, every change is in a diff you can review, keep or revert.

Add a --dry-run flag to the deploy script that prints each command instead of running it, and test it.

Ask without changes

In Ask mode the agent reads the code and runs commands to answer you, without changing files.

Why does the export job finish with an empty file when the list has over 1000 rows?

Run work on another machine

Chats can run on your other Macs and on your servers, started from the app or from a terminal.

lookout exec --on build-server -C '~/projects/api' "Run the test suite and fix the failing tests"

Where to go

What I want to do	Where
Install the app and make a first change	Quickstart
Connect a provider and pick a model	Models and providers
Send, queue, steer and stop the agent's work	Chats and projects
Choose what the agent may do	Modes
Review or undo the agent's changes	Checkpoints and changes
Give a chat its own branch	Worktrees
Tell the agent how to work in a project	Rules
Run chats on a server	Machines
Use Lookout from a terminal or a script	CLI
Fix a problem	Troubleshooting

Next steps

Quickstart: from an invitation to a reviewed change.
Mac app: updates, dictation, logs and what the app does on your Mac.

Quickstart: From an invitation to a reviewed change, and back again, in eight steps.
Mac app: Install the Mac app, keep it up to date, and find its logs.
CLI: The lookout command on Linux and macOS: install it, sign in, run chats, and use it in scripts.