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Guide

Getting started

Ten minutes to a complete setup. You can skip the AI step and come back to it later — notes, playback, and search work without any API keys.

1
Install VidNotes
Download from the Mac App Store (or the direct .dmg). It’s a universal binary, works on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 13+.
2
Open VidNotes for the first time

On first launch, VidNotes triggers a one-time download of two on-device AI models: WhisperKit (transcription, ~770 MB) and MLX (briefs & chat, ~2 GB). These run entirely on your Mac; no network calls after the initial download. Both are stored in Application Support and never re-downloaded.

3
Optional: set up cloud AI provider keys

VidNotes ships with bundled on-device AI that works without any key. If you'd rather use a cloud provider (faster on long content, higher quality on technical briefs), wire one up in Settings → AI Providers.

VidNotes connects to AI providers using your own API keys — nothing goes through our servers. You can skip this step (notes + playback work without any key) or wire up just one to start. Every key goes in VidNotes → Settings → AI Providers, then paste and click Save.

Which should I get? Start with Google Gemini — it’s free, needs no credit card, and handles every AI feature in the app. Add Claude later if you want higher-quality long-form briefs.

Google GeminiStart here
Free tier (no credit card)
Best for: Everything — briefs, chat, entity extraction, native video input, highest throughput
Get key: aistudio.google.com/apikey
  1. Sign in with any Google account
  2. Click “Create API Key” → choose (or create) a project
  3. Copy the key that appears
  4. Paste into Settings → Google Gemini → Save
Free tier gives you 15 requests/min and generous daily limits — plenty for personal use.
Anthropic Claude
$5 minimum credit · credit card required
Best for: Research briefs, faithful summaries, long-context synthesis across many videos
Get key: console.anthropic.com
  1. Sign up / sign in
  2. Settings → API Keys → “Create Key”
  3. Name it (e.g. “VidNotes”), copy the key
  4. Add payment + $5 credits under Billing
  5. Paste into Settings → Anthropic → Save
Pay-as-you-go after credits — typically ~$0.01-0.05 per brief generated.
OpenAI
$5 minimum credit · credit card required
Best for: Flashcards, structured output, math/formula recognition from images
Get key: platform.openai.com
  1. Sign up / sign in
  2. API Keys → “Create new secret key” → copy
  3. Billing → add payment method + $5+ credits
  4. Paste into Settings → OpenAI → Save
Good to have alongside Gemini for the Anki flashcard extraction pipeline.
YouTube Data API
Free · separate from Gemini
Best for: Importing YouTube playlists (optional — single-video import works without it)
Get key: console.cloud.google.com
  1. Go to the link — it opens the YouTube Data API v3 page
  2. Click “Enable” on the API (creates a project if needed)
  3. Sidebar → Credentials → “Create Credentials” → “API key”
  4. Paste into Settings → YouTube Data API → Save
This is a DIFFERENT key from Gemini — Gemini lives at aistudio.google.com, YouTube API at console.cloud.google.com. Both are free.
4
Watch your first video

Drag any video file into the window or paste a YouTube URL. Press ⌘↩ to save a timestamped note. Press C to toggle captions if you’ve imported a transcript.

5
Generate your first brief

Click the Brief tab on the right, then Generate Brief. VidNotes transcribes the video (if not already done), extracts claims and entities in parallel segments, and produces a 4-layer research brief with clickable timestamps.

Pro tip: once you’ve processed 3+ videos, open the Knowledge Graph from the sidebar. You’ll see how entities connect across your library — click any node to see every mention with context.