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Aethel Quick Start

Lucin Solutions LLC · Aethel v1.0.0 · May 2026

Welcome! Aethel is your personal AI operator. She runs on your own computer, reads your calendar and email when you ask, sends messages on your behalf, runs scheduled tasks while you sleep, and chats with you on Telegram or in a browser. This page gets you from zero to your first chat in about 15 to 20 minutes. If you want every detail, keep the User Guide open in another tab as you follow along.

What you'll need

Install Aethel (about 2 minutes)

On Mac

  1. Open Aethel.zip, then drag Aethel.app into your Applications folder.
  2. First launch is special. Open the Applications folder, right-click Aethel.app, and choose Open. macOS asks "Are you sure?", click Open again.

    What if I double-click and macOS says "Aethel can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software"? That message is normal. macOS shows it for any app that hasn't paid Apple's yearly notarization fee. We're working on that. In the meantime, two ways out:

    • Easy: right-click Aethel.app and choose Open (the trick above). Click Open when macOS asks.
    • Backup: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the line that says "Aethel was blocked from use because it is not from an identified developer", click Open Anyway, then double-click Aethel.app again.

    After this one-time approval, double-clicking works forever.

  3. The Setup Wizard opens automatically. Skip ahead to Setup.

On Windows

  1. Double-click Aethel-Setup-1.0.0.exe.
  2. Windows shows a blue "Windows protected your PC" screen. Click the small More info link (it's quiet, easy to miss), then click Run anyway.

    Why the scary blue screen? Microsoft shows it for any installer that hasn't paid for a Windows code-signing certificate. Same story as macOS, on our roadmap. Once we're signed, the screen disappears for everyone.

  3. The installer asks where to install (default: C:\Aethel\) and whether to Start Aethel automatically when you log in. We recommend yes so your scheduled tasks always run.
  4. Click Install. When it's done, Aethel launches and the Setup Wizard appears.

Setup (about 12 to 15 minutes)

The wizard has ten short steps. Use Back and Next at the bottom; your progress is saved if you close midway.

  1. Welcome: a friendly hello. Click Next.
  2. License: paste the key from your welcome email and click Activate. Don't have one yet? Click Subscribe to pick a plan in your browser. Keys validate online, so make sure you're connected.
  3. Dependencies: Aethel checks your computer for the tools she needs (Python, Node.js, npm, Git). Click Install next to anything missing; on Mac you may be asked for your password. Version requirements: Python 3.10+ (on Intel Macs only: Python 3.10 to 3.12 — newer Python broke a few of our voice deps on Intel hardware), Node.js 18+. The wizard tells you what version you have if it's wrong.
  4. Permissions (Mac only): Aethel asks for Screen Recording (so the AI can see what's on your screen when you ask) and Accessibility (so she can move your mouse and type for browser automation). Click each button; macOS opens System Settings to the right toggle. Flip it on, then click Re-check. You can skip this and come back later.
  5. AI Engine: pick the AI brain Aethel uses. If you don't have a paid AI plan, pick Gemini — it's the only one with a real free tier. You can swap engines later from Settings → AI without losing anything.
    • Gemini (Google) — recommended for new users.
      • Best for: day-to-day tasks, Gmail / Calendar / Docs, multimodal (images, PDFs).
      • Free tier: personal Google account, ~1,000 requests/day on Gemini Flash, no card required.
      • Models, cheap → expensive: Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite · Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite · Gemini 2.5 Flash · Gemini 3 Flash · Gemini 2.5 Pro · Gemini 3.1 Pro.
      • Heads-up: each tool call counts as a request, so 1,000/day is closer to ~50–100 real chats. Pick Gemini 3 Flash explicitly in Settings → AI to avoid the auto-route to Pro (which has a much smaller free cap).
    • Codex (OpenAI).
      • Best for: code generation, file edits, repo-wide refactors.
      • Free tier: temporary promo on ChatGPT Free + Go (May 2026 — verify on OpenAI's pricing page). Otherwise needs ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) or higher, or a pay-per-token OpenAI API key.
      • Models, cheap → expensive: GPT-5.2 · GPT-5.3-codex · GPT-5.4-mini · GPT-5.4 · GPT-5.5.
    • Claude (Anthropic).
      • Best for: long-context reasoning over a codebase, thoughtful writing, careful planning.
      • Free tier: none for Claude Code (the agent Aethel uses). Needs Claude Pro ($20/mo), Max ($100 / $200), or Anthropic Console API credits (~$5 minimum, prepaid).
      • Models, cheap → expensive: Haiku 4.5 · Sonnet 4.6 · Opus 4.7.

    Click Install if needed; a Terminal window opens, runs the install, then closes. Click Sign In; another Terminal window opens with your provider's sign-in flow. Follow the prompt (Gemini sends you to a browser to pick your Google account). Aethel detects when you're signed in and lights up green.

  6. Google sign-in: click Sign in with Google. Your browser opens. Pick your Gmail account and approve four permissions: Calendar, Tasks, Gmail, and Contacts (read-only).

    You'll see a warning: "Google hasn't verified this app." That's normal for any app still going through Google's review. Click Advanced (the small link, looks disabled at first glance), then Go to Aethel (unsafe) at the bottom. The "unsafe" wording is Google's standard language; the app is from Lucin Solutions LLC, the same company you bought from. Once our Google verification finishes, the warning goes away for everyone.

  7. Browser (optional): lets Aethel drive your real Chrome (open tabs, fill forms, click buttons). Skip if you don't need it. To set up: click the link to install the Playwright MCP Bridge Chrome extension (Chrome will ask "Allow this extension to debug websites?". Click Allow, that's how the bridge works). Then click the extension's puzzle-piece icon in Chrome's toolbar, copy the token line shown, and paste it into Aethel. The wizard strips the prefix automatically.
  8. Telegram: Telegram is your main way to chat with Aethel. The wizard walks you through:
    1. Click Open BotFather, Telegram opens with @BotFather already loaded.
    2. Send /newbot. BotFather asks for a display name (anything, e.g., "My Aethel"), then a username (must end in bot, e.g., my_aethel_bot).
    3. BotFather replies with a long token (looks like 123456789:AAEx...). Copy and paste it into the wizard.
    4. Click Test connection, you should see a green check.
    5. Send any message to your new bot from Telegram (just say "hi"). Aethel detects you and adds you as the admin.
  9. First task: create one scheduled task to make sure everything works. The wizard suggests a Morning Briefing at 7 a.m. Accept the default, or change the time / write a different prompt (e.g., "Remind me to drink water every two hours").
  10. Test run: Aethel runs your task once, right now, so you can see what happens. The log streams in real time. If it works, click Finish.

When the wizard closes, Aethel disappears into the menu bar (Mac, top-right) or system tray (Windows, bottom-right near the clock). She's running quietly in the background, ready to chat.

A quick tour of the window

Click the menu bar / tray icon and choose Open Aethel to bring the window up. The sidebar is grouped into three bands so things are easy to find:

You won't need most of these on day one. The two pages worth peeking at: Dashboard (shows whether Telegram, Google, and the AI engine are all green) and Tasks (where you'll add new scheduled jobs once you're past the morning briefing).

Keep your computer awake

Aethel only works when your computer is on and not sleeping. The display can turn off (that's fine), but if the whole machine sleeps, scheduled tasks won't fire and your bot stops responding until you wake it.

How to chat with Aethel

Just talk in plain language. A few things to try on day one:

Aethel will use her tools (Gmail, Calendar, web search, browser, reminders, and more) to actually do the work, not just suggest it. Anything that sends a message to a third party, moves money, or deletes data pauses for your okay first.

While she's working you'll see a small progress card with the model name (e.g. "Gemini 3") and a list of friendly tool names underneath, like "🔧 Checking the weather" or "🔧 Reading email", so you can see what's happening rather than waiting at a blank screen. The card disappears the moment her answer starts streaming in. Type /cancel on Telegram or hit Stop in the web chat to abort.

Slash commands (the cheat sheet)

A few one-liners for when the AI is slow, broken, or you just want quick info — they bypass the AI entirely:

The full reference is in the User Guide.

Need help?

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