Get started

Lila is in early access. Download her from the home page, and this page takes you from there to your first conversation.

Install on Windows

Download the installer, Lila-Setup-<version>.exe, with Download for Windows on the home page.
Double-click it. The installer isn’t signed yet (signing is how Windows checks who made an app), so Windows may say “Windows protected your PC”. Click More info, then Run anyway. It installs for your account and doesn’t need administrator rights.
Wait while it downloads her hearing model, about 480 MB, once. The hearing model turns your speech into text on your own computer. It uses your graphics card if it can, and the main processor if not.
Click Finish to open her. After that, open Lila from the Start menu or the desktop.

Her memory, notes, settings and keys live in %APPDATA%\Lila\runtime (type that into File Explorer’s address bar to open it). Installing a newer version over the top keeps them.

Install on a Mac or LinuxEarly

Mac: a .dmg for Apple silicon Macs, from Mac on the home page. Drag Lila into Applications. The app isn’t notarized yet (Apple’s check of who made it), so macOS blocks the first open. On macOS 15 or newer, choose Open Anyway in System Settings > Privacy & Security. On macOS 14 or older, right-click Lila and choose Open.
Linux: an AppImage from Linux on the home page (make it executable; Ubuntu 22.04 and newer need libfuse2), or a [.deb for Ubuntu and Debian](/download/linux-deb).
What works there: talking, timers, opening your calendar, getting around Gmail, websites and changing her own code. Controlling apps, reading pages, seeing the screen, uploads and games are Windows only for now.

The first time you open her

A short tour, “How Lila works”, plays: six clips in her voice, then four set-up steps, then “Try it”. The set-up steps are Hear and be heard, Only answer my voice, Using this computer and, if you want them, Your phone and camera. Each one has Skip for now (Not now on Using this computer), and you can set it up later in Settings. You can skip the whole tour and replay it any time with How Lila works under the message box. Where the tour and this guide differ, this guide is current:

When you ask her to look at your screen, the pictures are sent to an outside service to be described. See What stays on your computer.
Cutting her off by talking is reliable with headphones. See Interrupt her.
Opening apps like Spotify needs full machine access.
With full machine access, she clicks and types on her own. She asks before sending a message, post, reply or form, but that check can miss things.

After that, your account and her settings are at the bottom left of her window. Click your account for its menu, or Settings (the gear) for everything else. This guide names a place in Settings by its page and then its part, like Settings > Voice and microphone > Microphone and speakers.

Connect her to her online services

Lila thinks and speaks using online services, which need keys. (A key is a long code, a bit like a password, that lets a program use an online service.) There are three ways to set this up:

Option	What you do	Good to know
Your account	Make it on her site, then when she first opens choose Continue with your browser and Connect. Or make it or sign in right in her window.	Up to 150 requests a day on a free account, 500 on Lila Plus. New accounts may wait a little to be let in.
A code from your account page	On her site, Get a code. Then in Settings > Keys and developer tools, click I have a pairing code, type the code and click Connect.	For a computer that already has her, even on keys of its own. Works once, for 15 minutes. Signing in works there too: click your account at the bottom left, then Sign in or create an account.
Your own keys	Same place: paste an ElevenLabs key (a paid plan) and a Google Gemini key, then Save.	A TypeSafe key is optional. Keys are saved on your computer.

Lila Cloud is a small online service run by the people who make Lila. It holds the shared keys and passes her requests on. Your memory, history and her code stay on your computer.

UpdatesEarly

With Lila Cloud, a banner says “Lila X is ready” when a new version has downloaded, and Restart to update installs it. Memory, keys and settings stay. With your own keys, install new versions over the old one yourself.

Permissions she asks for

Prompt	When	Why
Microphone	The first time you talk, if your computer asks.	To hear you.
App Control Access	The first time she reads a page or an app’s buttons (“Read this page”).	Lets her read the labels and text of app controls and Chrome pages. That text goes to her online services and her history, and can include private details.
Selected Text Access	When you ask her to read a text box.	Lets her read one selected box, up to 4,000 characters. Password boxes are left out where she can identify them.
Desktop Capture Access	When she needs a picture of the screen.	Lets her capture all your screens, private content included. Pictures stay on your computer until you ask her to look.
Full Machine Access	Only when you turn it on yourself, in the tour’s Using this computer step or in Settings > What she can use > Using this computer.	Broad control of your computer. Read Machine access first.

Each prompt has Allow This Access and Decline. Access stays on until you choose Revoke machine access in Settings > What she can use > Using this computer. After you allow something, ask her again: the task doesn’t carry on by itself.

Three things to try first

Say hello. Hold Space, say “Hello”, and let go. Then type something in the “What’s on your mind?” box and press Enter. While she’s talking, press Stop (the square button).
Set a timer. Say “Set a pasta timer for 8 minutes”. She replies “Pasta timer, 8 minutes. Starting now.” Then ask “How long’s left?” and “Cancel the pasta timer”.
Give her something to remember. Say “Remember that my dog is called Biscuit”. Then open Memory (the brain icon, top right) to see it, correct it or forget it.