Fifteen minutes, most of which is waiting for a download.

What you need

• A Mac running macOS 26 or later on Apple Silicon. Intel Macs are not supported.
• An iPhone, on the same network as the Mac for the first pairing.
• One model API key, from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, or another supported provider. Or Ollama, if you would rather run a local model and pay nothing.
• Your beta key, which you enter on first launch.

1. Install the Mac app

Download the disk image from operatorok.com/download, drag Operator to Applications, and open it. It is notarized by Apple, so it opens without a warning.

On first launch it asks for your beta key, then puts an icon in your menu bar. Leave it running. The Mac app is the engine, and the phone can only see what a running Mac is doing.

Keep your Mac awake for jobs you want to finish. A sleeping Mac stops its agents. If a job matters and you are stepping away, plug in and set the Mac not to sleep on power.

2. Add a model key

Open the Mac app and find Settings, then the model providers. Paste in one key.

The key goes into your Mac’s Keychain. It is not uploaded, it does not sync to your phone, and it is handed to an agent only at the moment that agent starts. If you later delete it, jobs that were already running keep the copy they were given and new ones get nothing.

You can add more providers later and choose per job. One is enough to start.

3. Pair your phone

Install Operator from the App Store and open it. It asks to find your Mac.

On the Mac, open the pairing screen. It shows a QR code. Point your phone at it.

That QR carries the keys for an end to end encrypted channel between the two devices. Once paired, your phone can drive that Mac from anywhere, not just the same network. The relay that carries messages between them cannot read a single one of them.

If the phone does not see the Mac: check both are on the same Wi-Fi for this first step, that the Mac app is actually running, and that the Mac is not asleep.

4. Turn on approvals

In the phone app, allow notifications. Approvals are the point of the product, and an approval you do not see is a job that sits waiting.

If you have an Apple Watch, the watch app installs alongside the phone app. Approvals appear there too, which is the fastest way to answer one.

5. Check it works

On the phone, go to Sessions. You should see your Mac connected and an empty list, which is correct. Nothing is running yet.

If you see “no Mac”, the pairing did not complete. Redo step 3. Pairing is cheap and repeatable.

Next: run something.