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Complete Setup Guide

A step-by-step walkthrough of installing Recall and running the first-launch Setup Wizard.

There are two separate installation scenarios — Full and UI-Only — and the Setup Wizard shows different steps for each. This page covers both.

Choosing a distribution

Distribution Size What it includes Use if
Full ~1.2 GB Flutter UI + Recall Core + bundled models + llama binaries You're running Recall on your own computer ("entirely local" mode).
UI-Only ~63 MB Flutter UI only Your organization hosts Recall Core on a server and you connect to it.

Download links are on the Recall download page (provided by The Retrieval Company). Pick the right one for your platform.

Installing

Windows

  1. Download the installer (Setup.exe).
  2. Run it. SmartScreen will warn — click More info → Run anyway. Recall isn't code-signed yet.
  3. The installer is per-user and doesn't require administrator rights.
  4. Launch Recall from the Start menu.

macOS

  1. Download the installer (.pkg).
  2. Run it. The installer is signed and notarized, so Gatekeeper won't block it.
  3. Launch Recall from Applications.

First launch

The first time Recall starts, the Setup Wizard opens automatically. Steps depend on your install type.

Full install steps

  1. Security Certificate
  2. Word Integration
  3. Model Downloads (optional)
  4. Create Your First Matter
  5. Getting Started

UI-Only install steps

  1. Server Connection
  2. Word Integration
  3. Create Your First Matter
  4. Getting Started

You can Skip setup at any point and return later from the gear menu → Setup Wizard.

Step 1a — Security Certificate (Full only)

Recall Core runs on your computer and generates a self-signed HTTPS certificate on first launch. The Flutter UI needs to trust that certificate.

Windows. Recall tries to install the certificate automatically into your user's Trusted People store. If it succeeds, the step is a no-op — click Next. If it fails (restricted Windows policy), the step shows manual instructions.

Manual install on Windows (PowerShell):

Import-Certificate -FilePath "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Recall\system\certs\core_localhost.crt" -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\CurrentUser\TrustedPeople"

macOS. No action needed here for Recommended Word integration; certificate trust only matters if you later use Advanced Word integration.

Step 1b — Server Connection (UI-Only only)

Point Recall at your organization's server.

  1. Enter the HTTPS URL of your Recall server. Non-HTTPS URLs are rejected.
  2. Click Test Connection. Recall runs a reachability check with a 5-second timeout.
  3. On success, click Next. The setting saves to connection_settings.json in your app support directory.

Common errors the test surfaces:

  • Timeout — the server isn't reachable at that URL.
  • Certificate error — the server's TLS cert isn't trusted by your machine.
  • Invalid URL format — check for typos.

If the test fails, fix the URL and try again. You can also skip this step and configure it later in Settings → Connection.

Step 2 — Word Integration

The Word step walks you through integration setup for your platform. Details depend on Windows vs macOS:

  • Windows: Automatic — nothing to configure. The step is mostly informational.
  • macOS Recommended (Apple Events): Click Request Word Permission, allow the prompt, click Test Connection.
  • macOS Advanced (Word Add-in): Trust the certificate, install the add-in manifest in Word.

See Word Integration Setup for the full walkthrough.

Step 3 — Model Downloads (Full only)

Recall ships with a bundled embedder (ModernBERT, ~570 MB) and a bundled generator (Llama 3.1, ~4.7 GB) — you don't need to download anything to use Recall.

Optional models you can check here:

  • E5-Large-Instruct embedder — ~1.4 GB
  • all-MiniLM-L6-v2 embedder — ~90 MB
  • Phi-3.5 Mini Instruct generator — ~3.8 GB

Check anything you want, click Download, and move on — downloads continue in the background. You can leave the step at any time.

See Model Downloads for details on what each model does.

Step 4 — Create Your First Matter

Every piece of Recall work lives inside a matter. Create one now so you can dive in after setup.

Field What to enter
Name E.g. Smith v. Jones or Contract research 2026
Citation Style federal (default) or california

Click Create. The wizard continues to the last step. If you already have matters (e.g. from re-running setup), this step shows a "You already have matters" message and lets you continue.

Step 5 — Getting Started

A summary screen with quick pointers. Click Complete setup.

Verifying everything works

After setup, check the status pill next to the matter picker. All indicators should be green:

Indicator What it checks
Server Recall Core reachable
Word Word open and connected (only if you use Word)
Embedder Selected embedding model loaded
Generator Selected generator loaded (or Disabled)

Click the pill for a detailed popover.

If Server is red

  • Local mode (Full install): Recall Core starts with the app. If it's red, the CoreService process isn't running. Check the logs directory under the data root, or restart Recall.
  • Server mode (UI-Only): The remote server is unreachable. Re-run Test Connection in Settings.

If Embedder or Generator is red

  • Model still loading — give it 30–60 seconds.
  • Selected model file not on disk — re-download from Settings.

Re-running setup

You can re-open the wizard anytime: gear menu → Setup Wizard. It picks up from where you left off; your completed steps don't get undone.

Next steps