Deploying on macOS

On macOS, you typically install AI Studio with your device management (MDM) and place a policy file that tells AI Studio where its configuration is:

flowchart LR
    MDM["Your device management<br/>e.g. Jamf, Intune, Kandji"] --> APPS["AI Studio.app<br/>in /Applications"]
    MDM --> POL["Policy files in<br/>/Library/Application Support/<br/>MindWork/AI Studio/"]
    POL --> APPS
    APPS -- "GET {server}/{id}.zip" --> SRV["Configuration server<br/>in your intranet"]

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Read How Central Configuration Works first if you haven't yet.

Installing AI Studio

Our DMG files are on the release page, for Apple Silicon (MindWork.AI.Studio_aarch64.dmg) and Intel (MindWork.AI.Studio_x64.dmg). AI Studio is signed and notarized by Apple. Deploy the app bundle from the DMG with your device management, for example, into /Applications.

Updates: AI Studio replaces its whole app bundle when it updates. It therefore checks whether the user may write into the folder that contains the bundle:

• When the user can't write there, as for standard users in /Applications on a managed Mac, AI Studio treats the installation as managed by you and never updates it. Users are told that their IT department provides updates.
• When the user can write there, as administrators can in /Applications, AI Studio updates itself as configured.

There is no marker file on macOS, because an additional file inside the app bundle would break its signature. To stop all update checks, also for users with administrator rights, set DataApp.UpdateInterval to DISABLE_UPDATES in your configuration.

Providing the policy files

On macOS, AI Studio reads its policy files from exactly one folder:

/Library/Application Support/MindWork/AI Studio/

Place there, for example, with a package or a script of your device management:

• config_00000.yaml, config_00001.yaml, …: one file per configuration;
• config_encryption_secret.yaml, if you encrypt API keys;
• external_http_custom_root_certificates.yaml and your PEM bundle, if your servers use certificates of your own certificate authority that macOS doesn't trust.

The format of these files is described in Policy files and Your own certificate authorities. Make the folder writable only for administrators.

Keep in mind:

• AI Studio doesn't read configuration profiles. Managed preferences that you push as a profile don't reach it. Use the policy files instead.
• Environment variables are hardly an option. Apps started from the Finder or the Dock don't see the variables of a shell. AI Studio still reads them as the last fallback, for example, when started from a terminal.
• Your own certificate authorities: When you roll out your root certificates into the system keychain, as usual, AI Studio needs nothing else.

Where AI Studio keeps its data

What	Folder
Data, plugins, and your configurations	~/Library/Application Support/com.github.mindwork-ai.ai-studio/data/
Settings	~/Library/Application Support/com.github.mindwork-ai.ai-studio/
API keys	The keychain of the user

The "Information" page shows these folders as AI Studio resolved them on the device at hand, the path of the log file, and the state of your configurations.

Where to go next

• Configuration Server
• Deploying on Windows
• Deploying on Linux