Getting Started
Welcome to your guide for getting started with BACR. This document walks you through installing the app, completing first-run setup, and finding your way around the main window, so you can send your first message with confidence.
BACR is a private, desktop AI workspace that runs entirely on your own machine. You can chat with local or cloud models, and everything is designed to work from your device. The rest of this guide simply walks you through getting it up and running.
What Makes BACR Special
- Strong memory + RAG engine — it remembers context across sessions and can ground answers in your own documents and code.
- Integrated terminal — it can write and run code directly on your machine.
- Built-in browser automation — it can search the web and drive a browser to get things done.
1. Installing and Launching BACR
To install BACR:
- Sign in on the BACR website to access the download.
- Download the installer for your operating system.
- Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Open the app once it's installed.
The first time you launch BACR, it will walk you through a short setup sequence described below.
Windows note: BACR is still in testing, so Windows may show a Microsoft Defender SmartScreen warning ("Windows protected your PC") when you run the installer. This is expected. To continue, click More info, then Run anyway.
2. First-Run Setup
When you open BACR for the first time, you'll go through four steps:
- Sign in — a sign-in screen confirms you're authenticated before BACR loads any data.
- Choose how the agent will think — a one-time onboarding dialog, "Welcome to BACR Offline Mode," asks whether you want to:
- Download a recommended local model (runs fully offline on your machine), or
- Configure your own cloud API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), or
- Skip for now and decide later from Settings.
- Welcome screen — once setup finishes, you land on the Welcome view: a prompt box ("Describe a project, paste code, or think out loud...") with six quick-start suggestions, and a required Select Working Folder button — this tells BACR which folder on your computer the agent is allowed to read and write in for this session.
3. The Main Window
After setup, the main window has three areas:
- Sidebar (left) — start a new chat, search past conversations (grouped by Today / Yesterday / Previous 7 Days / Older), browse the archive of past sessions, switch theme, and open Settings.
- Chat view (center) — where you talk to the agent. Type in the composer, press Enter to send, and watch the response stream in.
- Context panel (right) — shows the active model, token usage, the working directory and its files, and any connected tools — collapsible if you want more chat space.
Why this is useful: Everything you need — your history, your files, and your active model — stays visible in one window, so you always know what context the agent is working with.
4. Sending Your First Message
Type a request in the composer and press Enter. If you skipped model setup during onboarding, BACR will prompt you to configure a provider first — see Model Management.