the two mac apps

on a mac, solstone is two separate apps that pair with each other, not one bundle. knowing which is which helps when you're troubleshooting or updating.

the solstone app, the menu-bar app

the solstone app runs in your menu bar. it takes in what you share with it: screen and audio. everything goes into your journal, which runs as its own dedicated app (see below).

the journal, the dock app

the journal is its own app in your dock. it holds everything the solstone app takes in and runs locally on this mac, with its own window and its own update channel. choose local processing in the journal's thinking app, and that runs here too.

why two apps

they update on separate clocks and ship separately, so a fix to one doesn't have to wait on the other. the solstone app needs to be everywhere you are: your laptop, your phone, wherever you're using it in the moment. the journal needs to live somewhere durable: one machine you trust, not scattered across every device the solstone app runs on. the solstone app can also run alone, pairing with a journal on a different mac or linux machine. the split is what makes that possible.

your journal, always private

your journal is always private, only yours. that's not a setting you turn on, it's the covenant sol pbc is legally bound to (Article 8 of our articles of incorporation).

which do I have installed?

if you downloaded from solstone.app/install, you likely have both: check your dock and menu bar. if you only see one, look for the other in Applications, or reinstall using the download page's guidance for "the solstone app," "the journal," or "both."

updating

each app updates itself independently. see keeping solstone up to date.