What you end up with
Astro installed like any other app on your Mac. It is free, and it stays free — there is no account, no trial and no subscription at the end of this.
- Time
- About 15 minutes
- Steps
- 5
- Cost
- Free
Install Astro
Download Astro
A complete browser — no BrowserOS, no toolchain, nothing to build. About 231 MB, Apple silicon.
Download Astro.dmgYou know this worked when: Astro.dmg finished downloading
Drag Astro to Applications
Signed and notarized, so it opens normally — no right-click trick, no Terminal.
Open the release pageYou know this worked when: Astro opens
Keep BrowserOS or Astro, not both
They share a bundle ID, so they share a profile — and BrowserOS deletes Astro's agent from it.
You know this worked when: Only one of the two is installed
Let the search engine download
About 150 MB on your first search. Every search after that runs on your own machine.
You know this worked when: A search returns results
Choose where answers come from
Search already works without this. Add a Claude, Codex, Copilot or Ollama route for answers.
You know this worked when: A model is selected in Settings
If something goes wrong
Nothing here can damage your computer, and every step can be run again safely. If a command fails, the usual cause is the step before it not having finished.
Still stuck? Tell us what happened and we will fix the guide. Include the step number and we can usually reproduce it.