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Getting started

Install Arci, pick the shortcut that opens it, and you're done. Permissions come later, one at a time, only when an action you run needs one.

What you need

  • A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later). Arci is built for Apple silicon only.
  • macOS 26 or later.

That's all. There's no account to make, and Arci is free; Arci Pro, an optional subscription coming soon, will add unlimited action building and AI Search on Arci. A few features use things you may or may not have — Apple Intelligence for on-device AI, your own API key for an AI provider — and Arci says so where it matters.

Install

  1. Download Arci. You get Arci.dmg, the newest release.
  2. Open it and drag Arci into Applications.
  3. Open Arci from Applications. macOS asks you to confirm the first time you open an app downloaded from the internet.

Arci lives in the menu bar — look for the small grid icon — and has no Dock icon. The menu bar icon's menu opens Arci, its Settings and your actions file, holds Keep Mac Awake, lists running timers, links to Buy Me a Coffee, and quits Arci.

Choose your shortcut

The first time Arci opens, its Settings window opens with it: Settings doubles as the welcome screen until you've chosen how to summon Arci. Arci ships with no shortcut of its own, so nothing is taken over without asking.

  1. In General, click the Summon shortcut box.
  2. Press the keys you want. They need ⌘, ⌥ or ⌃, or an F-key on its own. esc cancels.
  3. Close Settings. Arci opens once so you can try it.

Press the shortcut anywhere to open Arci on the screen your pointer is on; press it again, or esc, to put it away. ⌥Space is a good choice. To use ⌘Space, first turn off Spotlight's shortcut in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Spotlight.

Also in General: Launch at login (off until you turn it on), the theme (Ink, Paper or Dusk), and the panel's layout.

First steps

Open Arci and try these:

  • Type a few letters of an app's name and press ↩.
  • Type 15% of 80, 12 km in miles, 100 usd to eur or 330 singapore time. ↩ copies the answer.
  • Type a question and press ⇥: the strip of actions appears — search Google, ask AI, save it as a note, translate.
  • Type timer 25m tea and press ↩.
  • Copy something, open Arci and press ⌘V: the text becomes a chip and Arci offers what fits it.
  • Type ~ and the start of a file's name to find it.
  • Press ⇧⌘V anywhere for your clipboard history, and ⌃⌘Space for emoji.

Using Arci covers each of these. Actions shows how to make your own.

Permissions

Arci asks for a permission only when you run something that needs it, says why first, and works without all of them. Settings → Permissions shows what Arci has, and which of your actions use each.

permissionwhat it unlockswithout it
AccessibilityThe chips over text you select, ⌘E, reading the text you've selected in another app ({selection}), pasting a result back into it, and pasting straight from clipboard history and the emoji picker.Those actions explain and offer to open System Settings. Clipboard history and emoji copy instead, so ⌘V pastes.
Screen RecordingReading text from an area of the screen ({screenshot}) — Copy Screen Text on ⇧⌘8. You drag a region; Arci reads it on your Mac and deletes the picture.That action opens System Settings at Screen Recording, with Arci in the list. Nothing else uses it.
NotificationsBanners when a timer, alarm or reminder rings.The chime still plays, and the menu bar still counts down.
RemindersAdding a reminder to Apple Reminders with ⌘↩, so it rings on your iPhone too.Arci's own reminders still work.
Files & FoldersTidying a folder in Desktop, Documents or Downloads, and finding files there and in iCloud Drive. macOS asks once per folder: the first time a tidy action opens it, or when you press ⇥ in Search Files.A tidy action says it isn't allowed in. Search Files leaves those folders out and says so.

Arci never needs Full Disk Access, and its global shortcuts don't need Input Monitoring.

Updates

Arci checks for a new version shortly after it starts and once a day. When there is one, Settings → General → Updates says so, with what's new, and so does the menu bar menu. Install and Relaunch downloads it, checks that it's signed with Arci's Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, replaces the old copy in Applications and reopens Arci; your actions, notes and history stay where they are. Every release is listed in the changelog.

Where your things are

Arci keeps everything on your Mac, in ~/Library/Application Support/Arci/: your actions (actions.json), history, clipboard history, notes (unless you chose another notes folder), timers and colors. API keys you add, and the key that encrypts clipboard history, are in your Keychain. The privacy policy lists every file and everything Arci sends anywhere.

Uninstall

  1. Quit Arci from its menu bar icon.
  2. Drag /Applications/Arci.app to the Trash.
  3. To remove your data too, delete ~/Library/Application Support/Arci — that includes notes in the default notes folder, so move any you want first — and ~/Library/Caches/com.prayukta.arci. Its Keychain items are under com.prayukta.arci in Keychain Access.