ecodia

Bring it home.

Pick your computer, download, and open it. The installer sets up everything, Visual Studio Code, your Friend pack, the tools underneath, and opens VS Code at its folder when it is done.

Before you start: Friend runs on Claude. You need a Claude Pro plan (about US$20 a month) in your own name, set up at claude.ai. It is separate from your Friend subscription, and you set it up direct with Anthropic so the account stays yours. Do this first, because you sign in to it at the end and your Friend cannot run without it.

download

macOS

On your Mac

  1. Download the installer below.
  2. Open your Downloads folder and double-click Familiar Installer.
  3. A window opens and does the rest. No warnings, no password.

Download for Mac →

prefer a command?
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://ecodia.au/friend/install/install.sh)"

Windows

On your Windows PC

  1. Download the installer below.
  2. Open your Downloads folder and double-click Friend-Installer.
  3. If a blue box says "Windows protected your PC", click More info then Run anyway. A window opens and does the rest.

Download for Windows →

prefer a command?
irm https://ecodia.au/friend/install/install.ps1 | iex

what you will see

A small window opens with a progress bar and plain steps. First time through it takes around 5 to 15 minutes, mostly downloading. No password is needed.

On a Mac, if you do not already have Apple's developer tools, a small Apple window pops up to install them. Click Install, let it finish, then click Continue back in the installer window.

When it is done, Visual Studio Code opens by itself at your Friend pack folder, with the Claude extension already added.

If Visual Studio Code asks whether you trust the folder, click Yes. Then click the Claude icon on the left, sign in to Claude with your Claude Pro account, open the chat, and say hello. Your Friend runs a short setup conversation on the first turn to learn about you.

is this safe?

Yes. The Mac installer is signed and checked by Apple, so it opens with no warning. The installer only does three things: it makes sure you have git and Visual Studio Code (downloaded straight from Microsoft), and it copies your Friend pack onto your computer. You can read the exact scripts first if you like: the Mac one, the Windows one. The Friend pack itself is public at github.com/EcodiaCode/friend-starter.

where it lives

Your Friend pack lives at ~/Familiar on Mac, or C:\Users\YOU\Familiar on Windows (the folder keeps its original name). The folder is yours. You can move it, back it up, or copy it to another computer.

if something does not work

Reply on your Friend welcome email and EcodiaOS will sort it on the same thread. If you have not paid yet, start at /friend.