--- title: Quickstart description: From an invitation to a reviewed change, and back again, in eight steps. canonical_url: https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/quickstart type: quickstart section: Get started last_updated: 2026-10-21 related: - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/checkpoints - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models --- > Every page of these docs: https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/llms.txt # Quickstart From an invitation to a reviewed change, and back again, in eight steps. You need an invitation and a Mac with Apple silicon. Each step ends with something you can see. ## 1. Get an account 1. Open your invite link. It fills in the invite code. Without a link, open [Sign up](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/signup) and type the code in **Invite code**. 2. Fill in **Email**, **Username** (3 to 32 characters: letters, numbers, `_` and `-`) and **Password** (at least 12 characters). 3. Click **Create account**. Your dashboard opens. ## 2. Install the Mac app 1. Click **Download** at the top of the page (on a phone, in the menu on your picture), then click **Download** on the page it opens. 2. Open the disk image and drag Lookout into Applications. 3. Before the first launch, run this once in Terminal: ```sh xattr -cr /Applications/Lookout.app ``` 4. Open Lookout from Applications. The window shows **Sign in to Lookout**. ## 3. Sign in 1. Click **Continue with browser**. Your browser opens Lookout's sign-in page. 2. Sign in there with your email or username and your password. If this browser is already signed in, click **Continue**. 3. If your browser asks to open Lookout, allow it. The app picks up the sign-in by itself, and the page says **You're signed in**. 4. On a new account, this first Mac shows **Save your Recovery Key**. Save it as [Account and devices](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/account#recovery-key) shows, or click **Later**. The window shows **Welcome to Lookout**. > [!NOTE] > If your account already has another device, the app shows **Add this Mac** with a code. Enter the code on that > device to add this Mac. With no other device at hand, [use your Recovery Key](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/account#use-recovery-key). > When a provider you signed in to is already connected here, the app skips the welcome and opens on **New chat**. ## 4. Connect a provider 1. Click **Get started**. **Connect a provider** lists every provider: a free tier that needs no sign-in under **Connected**, so a chat can already run, and the providers you can sign in to under **Available**. 2. To run on a plan you have, click the sign-in on that provider's row under **Available**: it names what you hold there, or says **Add API key** for a key. Finish the step the row opens: a page in your browser, a code, a key to paste, or another app's sign-in. The provider moves to **Connected**. 3. Click **Continue**. With only the free tier connected, it reads **Continue with the free tier**. If the free tier's row says the provider refuses Lookout's client, connect another provider first. The app opens on **New chat**, and the connected providers' models are in the model menu. To connect one later, open **Settings › Providers**, or choose **Connect more providers** at the bottom of the model menu in the message box. [Models and providers](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models#connect) covers each provider's sign-in. ## 5. Open a project 1. Click the project picker above the message box. 2. Click **Open folder** (`⇧⌘O`), choose a folder with code in it, and click **Open**. The picker shows the folder's name. A worktree or clone of a project you already have opens in that project, and the checkout's name shows beside it ([Open a folder](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/chats#open-folder)). ## 6. Send a prompt Type a task in the message box and press `Enter`. For example: ```text Find one function in this project that has no tests, write tests for it, and run them. ``` The agent's steps stream into the chat as it reads files and runs commands. When it is done, a card shows how many files changed. ## 7. Review the change 1. Click **Review** on the changes card. The side pane opens beside the chat on its **Changes** tab, with a diff for each file. 2. Use the scope menu at the top of the tab to switch between **This turn**, **This chat** and **Uncommitted**. Each changed file shows its added and removed lines. `⇧⌘R` opens and closes the pane from anywhere in the chat. ## 8. Restore a checkpoint Lookout records your files before every turn, in a git history of its own that leaves your repository alone. 1. In the row of buttons under the agent's answer, click **Restore files to before this turn**. 2. The dialog lists the files that change. Click the button that names their count, such as **Restore 2 files**. The files are back to how they were before the turn, and a message such as **Restored 2 files** appears. Click **Undo** in it to bring the change back. ## Next steps - [Chats and projects](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/chats): queue, steer and stop the agent while it works. - [Modes](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/modes): ask without edits, or split the work with Multitask. - [Checkpoints and changes](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/checkpoints): revert one file, a turn or a whole chat. - [Worktrees](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/worktrees): give a chat its own branch. Prefer a terminal? The [CLI](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/cli) runs the same agent with `lookout exec`. ## Related - [Overview](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs.md): Lookout runs coding agents in your projects, on the model plans you sign in to, from a Mac app or a terminal. - [Checkpoints and changes](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/checkpoints.md): Lookout records the chat's folder before every turn, so you can review what the agent changed and put files back. - [Models and providers](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models.md): Connect the providers you have a plan with, then pick a model, its effort and its variant for each chat.