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Installing Cuebot

This page shows you how to download Cuebot and start it for the first time, on Windows, Mac or Linux. Cuebot is one download. You do not need to install anything else first.

Pick your download

Go to the releases page and open the newest release. While Cuebot is in testing, releases are marked Pre-release. Under Assets, pick the file for your computer:

Your computer File to download
Windows 10 or 11 Cuebot-win-x64.zip
Linux (most people) Cuebot-x86_64.AppImage
Linux, with Flatpak Cuebot-x86_64.flatpak
Linux, ARM computer or if you prefer a plain folder Cuebot-<version>-linux-arm64.tar.gz or ...-linux-x64.tar.gz
Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) Cuebot-macos-arm64.dmg
Mac with an Intel chip Cuebot-macos-x64.dmg
Android phone or tablet (Android 10 or newer): the phone app Cuebot-Companion-<version>.apk
Elgato Stream Deck app (Windows or Mac): the Cuebot plugin io.github.cuebot.streamdeck.streamDeckPlugin

Experimental

Cuebot for Mac is new. See What's experimental.

Windows

  1. Download Cuebot-win-x64.zip.
  2. Right-click the zip and choose Extract All. Put it in a folder you will keep, like Documents\Cuebot. Do not start Cuebot from inside the zip.
  3. Open the folder and double-click Cuebot.exe.

\"Windows protected your PC\"

Windows may show this blue box the first few times, because Cuebot is new and Windows does not know it yet. Click More info, then Run anyway.

Mac

You need macOS 15 (Sequoia) or newer. Not sure which chip your Mac has? Open the Apple menu and click About This Mac: "Apple M..." means Apple silicon, "Intel" means Intel.

  1. Download the .dmg for your Mac and open it.
  2. Drag Cuebot onto the Applications folder next to it.
  3. Open Applications and double-click Cuebot.

\"Cuebot cannot be opened\" or \"Apple could not verify Cuebot\"

macOS asks before the first start, because this Cuebot is not yet signed by Apple. Click Done (or OK), open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to Cuebot. You only do this once. (On older Macs, right-click Cuebot and choose Open instead; macOS 15 no longer offers that shortcut.)

When you turn on Voice Control, macOS asks whether Cuebot may use the microphone. Click Allow.

Hotkeys and the Keyboard press step need permission too: macOS asks for Input Monitoring and Accessibility the first time. See Hotkeys.

After updating on a Mac

This Cuebot is not signed by Apple yet, so macOS sees each update as a new app. If hotkeys or key presses stop working after an update while System Settings > Privacy & Security still shows Cuebot turned on, select Cuebot in Input Monitoring and Accessibility, remove it with −, and add it again with +.

Notifications on a Mac

Cuebot's system notifications on a Mac come from Script Editor (a helper that is part of macOS). If none show up, open System Settings > Notifications > Script Editor and allow them. Or let Cuebot show its own notifications instead: go to Automation > Hotkeys, and under Desktop set Notifications appear to In-app.

A few things are not on a Mac yet. The free Piper voices only run on Windows and Linux, so pick another text-to-speech engine.

Linux

AppImage

  1. Download Cuebot-x86_64.AppImage.

  2. Make it runnable. In most file managers: right-click it, open Properties and tick the box that allows running it as a program (the wording depends on your desktop). Or type this in a terminal:

    chmod +x Cuebot-x86_64.AppImage
./Cuebot-x86_64.AppImage

  3. If you want Cuebot in your app menu, use a tool such as Gear Lever or AppImageLauncher.

Flatpak

Download Cuebot-x86_64.flatpak and open it with your software centre, or type flatpak install --user Cuebot-x86_64.flatpak in a terminal.

Tarball (a plain folder)

tar -xzf Cuebot-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz
./Cuebot-<version>-linux-x64/lib/Cuebot

Arch Linux

The AUR packages cuebot and cuebot-bin come with the first full (non-test) release.

Linux has a few extras, like sound players and the Stream Deck. See the Linux page.

What next?