Getting started
From a fresh install to your first answered message. About five minutes, nothing permanent, narrated below if you would rather watch than read.
84 seconds · narrated · sound on
Why this matters
The point of setup is not configuration for its own sake. Every tool you connect here becomes something you never have to context-switch to again - one chat routes to all of it, and one health check tells you the truth about all of it.
Step by step
1. Install and start
Run the installer from your alpha invite, or from source: clone the repo and run python3 run.py (Windows: py run.py). The dashboard opens at localhost:8787/cronus - or in its own window if you use the desktop app.
2. Meet the setup wizard
On a fresh machine Cronus opens Setup first. The steps sit along the top - Welcome, Health check, Install tools, Models, Agents - and every one of them can be skipped and revisited later. Nothing in the wizard is a commitment.
3. Read the health check
This is Cronus looking at your computer and reporting honestly. Green dot: working, tested seconds ago. Gray dot: not connected yet - normal on a new machine, never an error. Each gray row tells you exactly how to connect that piece when you want it.
4. Connect one brain
Chat needs at least one AI model. The model cards explain each option in plain words - what it is good at, what it costs, what to watch out for. The free path: install Ollama, run ollama pull qwen3:4b, and Cronus lists it as "local, free" automatically. Have a Claude plan or an API key? Those cards show exactly how to connect them.
5. Say something
Land in Oracle, the main chat, and ask for what you want in plain words - "what can you help me with?" is a fine start. Cronus answers directly or routes the job to an agent and tells you which. The first reply on a local model is the slowest one you will ever see (the model is loading into memory); it gets quicker from there.
If something does not work
Go back to the health check - it exists for exactly this moment. Whatever failed will have a gray or amber row with a fix hint. Still stuck? Email us what the health check says.