---
title: "Install AI Battery with an AI agent — AI Battery"
description: "A runbook for coding agents: preflight checks, Homebrew or a pinned checksum-verified install script, verification, and the macOS prompts and sign-in only a person can do."
canonical: "https://aibattery.dev/install"
source: "https://aibattery.dev/install.md"
modified: 2026-10-16
version: 3.1.0
author: KyleNesium
license: MIT
language: en
---

# Install AI Battery with an AI agent

Updated October 16, 2026 · AI Battery 3.1.0 · macOS 13 (Ventura) or later on Apple Silicon, plus Claude Code and/or the Codex CLI.

This page is a runbook. If someone pasted it into you — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any agent with a shell on their Mac — run the steps in order; each has a check. **Stop at step 4 and hand over:** two macOS prompts and the provider sign-in happen in the UI and cannot be done from a terminal. Reading this as a person? The same steps work by hand, or use the [one-click methods on the homepage](https://aibattery.dev/#install).

### Shortest path

With Homebrew: `brew tap KyleNesium/tap && brew install --cask aibattery`

Without Homebrew: `curl -fsSL https://aibattery.dev/install.sh | bash` — pinned to 3.1.0, SHA-256 verified, launches the app.

Either way, finish with steps 3 and 4.

## Step 1: Preflight

AI Battery needs macOS 13 (Ventura) or later on Apple Silicon, plus Claude Code and/or the Codex CLI — there is no Intel build yet. Check both, and whether Homebrew is available:

```bash
sw_vers -productVersion   # must be 13.0 or newer
uname -m                  # must print arm64
command -v brew           # a path → use 2A; nothing → use 2B
```

If the macOS version or the architecture check fails, stop and tell the user why — nothing below will work on that Mac.

## Step 2: Install

### 2A. With Homebrew (preferred)

```bash
brew tap KyleNesium/tap && brew install --cask aibattery
```

The cask pins the release's SHA-256, installs `/Applications/AIBattery.app` and clears the quarantine flag. Already installed? `brew upgrade --cask aibattery`.

### 2B. Without Homebrew

```bash
curl -fsSL https://aibattery.dev/install.sh | bash
```

What [install.sh](https://aibattery.dev/install.sh) does, in order: checks macOS 13+ and arm64 → downloads `AIBattery.zip` (3.3 MB) for version 3.1.0 from GitHub Releases → verifies its SHA-256 (`c79702b7eae1…`) → quits a running copy and unpacks into `/Applications` → clears the quarantine flag → launches the app. Its last line is machine-readable: `AIBATTERY_INSTALL_RESULT status=ok version=3.1.0 path=/Applications/AIBattery.app launched=1`.

Flags go after `bash -s --`: `--no-launch` installs without opening the app; `--dir <folder>` installs somewhere other than /Applications. Exit codes: **0** installed · **2** unsupported Mac · **3** checksum mismatch · **4** download or unpack failed. Prefer not to pipe into bash? `curl -fsSLO https://aibattery.dev/install.sh && less install.sh && bash install.sh`.

## Step 3: Verify and launch

```bash
ls -d /Applications/AIBattery.app
# expect 3.1.0 or newer:
defaults read /Applications/AIBattery.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString
open /Applications/AIBattery.app
sleep 2 && pgrep -x AIBattery >/dev/null && echo "AI Battery is running"
```

AI Battery lives in the menu bar as a green star — no Dock icon, no window. If `pgrep` finds nothing after launch, Gatekeeper blocked it; that is step 4, not an install failure.

## Step 4: Stop — hand over to the user

Report the version and the method you used, then give the user these three steps as written:

1. **If macOS says the app can't be opened** (it isn't notarized yet): System Settings → Privacy & Security → scroll down → **Open Anyway**, then open it again.
2. **Click "Always Allow"** on the Keychain prompt — that is where the sign-in token is kept. It appears once on first launch and once more after an in-app update.
3. **Click the star in the menu bar and sign in.** Claude: the browser opens Anthropic's sign-in and shows a code to paste back into the app. Codex: "Sign in with ChatGPT" redirects straight back to the app; importing the Codex CLI login or pasting an OpenAI API key also works. Up to 3 accounts per provider — add more in Settings → Accounts.

Nothing else is needed. AI Battery reads Claude Code's and the Codex CLI's local session logs on its own, and updates itself through Sparkle.

## Upgrade, uninstall

```bash
# upgrade — Homebrew installs (or use the in-app update):
brew upgrade --cask aibattery
# upgrade — script installs: re-run it, it replaces the app:
curl -fsSL https://aibattery.dev/install.sh | bash

# uninstall — Homebrew installs, including preferences:
brew uninstall --zap --cask aibattery
# uninstall — script installs:
rm -rf /Applications/AIBattery.app
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/AIBattery"
rm -f "$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.KyleNesium.AIBattery.plist"
```

Sign-in tokens live in the macOS Keychain under the service name `AIBattery`; delete them in Keychain Access for a clean slate.

## For agents: machine-readable

- [This page as Markdown](https://aibattery.dev/install.md) — or request `/install` with `Accept: text/markdown`
- [app.json](https://aibattery.dev/app.json) — current version, release assets with byte sizes and SHA-256, every install command
- [install.sh](https://aibattery.dev/install.sh) — the pinned installer above; [checksums-sha256.txt](https://github.com/KyleNesium/AIBattery/releases/latest/download/checksums-sha256.txt) on the release for independent verification
- [llms.txt](https://aibattery.dev/llms.txt) — index of everything else on this site

### Reading this as a person?

Paste `https://aibattery.dev/install` into Claude Code, Codex or whichever agent you use and say "install it".

[Or install it yourself](https://aibattery.dev/#install)