Getting Started

This guide walks you through your first time using Cola. After Step 1 through Step 3, you should have Cola installed and open, be signed in, and have asked Cola your first question.

Before You Start

Before you begin, confirm that:

You are using a Mac.
Your current network can open a browser and allows Cola to reach login and model services.
You have a Cola account that can sign in and has available balance.
If you want voice input, macOS needs to allow Cola to use the microphone.

Step 1: Install Cola

Get the Cola installer from an official channel, then open it and follow the macOS prompts. Do not install packages from unknown sources, and do not run terminal commands from unfamiliar pages.

The first time you open Cola, the app prepares its local runtime, including the local service and speech-recognition resources. This can take a little time; later launches are usually faster.

If macOS asks for microphone permission, allow it if you want voice input. Speech recognition runs locally on your Mac, and microphone access is used only while you actively record. You can still use typed input without microphone access.

When you open Cola for the first time, the login page is titled Sign in: one method fills the full-width primary button and the rest sit below it as icons, with their names on hover. Whichever method you used last is marked Last used. Which methods appear, and in what order, depends on your interface language and your account service configuration; phone, email, and Google are the common ones, and phone login accepts mainland China mobile numbers. Choose one and follow the prompts to finish signing in.

After you sign in to your Cola account, Cola refreshes your account status, model configuration, and available balance. If the login flow asks for an invite code, follow the page instructions to activate it.

Your First Run

After your first sign-in comes a short voiced opening. The screen invites you to Click anywhere to begin; from there Cola speaks line by line and asks you three things — what it should call you in the real world, what you are up against every day beyond the screen, and how you respond when life spirals out of control.

Type into the field below and press Enter to submit each answer, or dictate it with the voice shortcut.
Controls sit in the top corner: Mute turns the sound off (and becomes Unmute), and Skip goes straight to the conversation.
The voice take exists in Chinese and English only; other interface languages use the English one.

Once the three answers are in, the opening exits and Cola greets you in the conversation with two short messages about what it can do. It may then offer to paint you a welcome portrait — whether or not you say yes, it may still send you the finished image in the conversation a little later.

The opening runs once per installation: a computer that has already been through it won't see it again. Skipping counts as finishing, and you go straight into an ordinary conversation.

Step 3: Ask Your First Question

After entering the main interface, start with a simple question to confirm that Cola can respond:

What can you help me do? Give me 5 examples that are useful for a new user.

You can also give Cola a concrete task right away:

Summarize the 5 most recently modified files on my Desktop.

Read this project's README and package.json, then tell me how to start it.

Turn these meeting notes into 5 action items, each with an owner and due date.

A good question usually includes three parts:

Goal: what you want Cola to accomplish.
Scope: which directory, project, file, or content it should use.
Output: whether you want a list, summary, edit, document, or runnable result.

For risky actions such as deleting files, overwriting content, committing code, sending external messages, or opening payment or authorization pages, Cola should ask for your confirmation first.

If you want to use voice input, press Option once to start recording, then press Option again to stop and send. You can also click the voice button in the interface.

Next Steps

After the first question works, try:

Ask Cola to organize a set of files, but first require it to list a plan without deleting anything.
Ask Cola to write a slide outline or meeting notes.
Set a reminder so Cola follows up at a specific time.
Ask Cola to read a code repository and explain its structure.

If you run into startup, login, model, voice, or connection issues, start with Troubleshooting.