Getting Started

Install

Needs Node.js 24 or newer.

npm install -g ailoud

Check it:

ailoud --version

??? note "Building from source instead"

Only needed to work on AILoud itself. See the
[Development guide](development/development.md).

```
git clone https://github.com/lorem-dev/ailoud.git
cd ailoud
pnpm install && pnpm build && pnpm link --global
```

Set up the tools

AILoud needs ffmpeg and a speech-to-text engine. setup installs them:

ailoud setup

It prints what it will install and how much it will download, then asks once. For an unattended run:

ailoud setup --yes --llm local

setup asks which language model to use for summaries. Pick one:

Choice	Needs
local	a 2.1 GB download, then nothing leaves your machine
claude-cli	Claude Code installed and signed in
claude-api	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
openai	OPENAI_API_KEY
skip	nothing; summaries stay off until you come back

Check the result any time:

ailoud doctor

See Configuration for the config file, and Troubleshooting a check when doctor is unhappy.

Your first transcript

ailoud audio import ~/Recordings/standup.m4a --tag standup
ailoud audio transcribe
ailoud audio ls

01M1B2W5EG3SG628QEZCGAKP33  00:00:40  en  "Let us meet at the harbor before..."

Read it:

ailoud audio show 01M1B2

Ids are long, so any unambiguous prefix works -- as in docker.

Your first summary

ailoud audio summarize 01M1B2

Decisions
- Ann: cut the fixture to ten thousand rows today

Open questions
- Ben: CI takes twenty minutes; on next week's agenda

Every summary is saved:

ailoud report ls
ailoud report show SUM0

Next

• Recordings -- tags, speakers, two languages.
• Search -- find a sentence without reading a transcript.
• Templates -- shape a summary for a 1:1 or a design review.
• MCP -- give an agent access to the library.