Get started
How to use Thread.
Install it once. Keep using AI exactly as you do now. Recall the thought — not the chat — whenever you need it.
Set up once
- 01
Download the Mac app
Grab the
.dmgfrom this site, open it, and drag Thread into Applications. It doesn't open a window — it lives as a small mark in your menu bar. First launch needs one extra step (below). - 02
Add the browser extension
The Thread extension for Chrome connects to the Mac app on its own — it's what lets Thread see the AI conversations you're already having. Get the extension →
- 03
No signup
Thread quietly creates an account so it works immediately. You attach an email later, only when you want to sign in elsewhere or go Pro.
Installing on macOS
Open Thread.dmg, drag Thread into Applications, and launch it. Thread is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click. It's downloaded from this site, not the Mac App Store.
Every day
- 04
Just talk to AI like normal
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Cursor — whatever you use. You don't do anything special. Thread watches in the background.
- 05
Thread builds your idea history
It picks out the moments that matter — a real claim, a decision, a question you're working through, a change to something you said before — and files each as an Idea Node: one idea with its whole history attached. Small talk and "explain this to me" are ignored.
- 06
Recall anything
Press ⌘ ⇧ T anywhere. A panel drops from the menu bar — Recent, Open loops, All. Search it by meaning: "the verification problem" finds the idea even if you never used those words. Click an idea to see how it evolved across tools, the decisions you made, what's still open, and the ideas that connect to it. It opens the instant you press the key — a local query, not a request.
- 07
Thread nudges you back
When one unfinished thread clearly stands out — a contested point, an open question you left a week ago — a single quiet line appears at the top of the panel: You may be returning to: [idea]. And when you reopen an AI tool after weeks away, that same line comes as a quiet Mac notification. One line, never a feed; silent when Thread isn't sure. A Focus filter mutes the notification when you want.
- 08
Pick up where you left off
On any idea, click Continue this idea. The AI receives a structured brief — current formulation, the trajectory of how your thinking moved, what's still unresolved, and one instruction: continue from this exact state, don't restart. It drops into a fresh chat or copies to paste. Drafted on your Mac; a frontier model, when connected, sharpens it.
- 09
A bigger view
Press ⌘ ⇧ W for the full window: a sidebar, the idea list, and a reading pane for long histories. Same look as the panel, more room.
- 10
It's instant, and it works offline
Recall, search, and your idea history are a local database on your Mac — nothing goes out to open the panel, and it works with no connection. New conversations are turned into ideas on Thread's server (or, offline, by the model on your Mac), then synced back.
Help
Reference
What the symbols mean
Every idea in the list carries one small mark. It's read straight from the idea — you never set it.
- Developing
- An active idea with nothing pending.
- Open question
- Has an unresolved question — and every row in the Open loops list.
- Contested
- A later point conflicts with an earlier one. The only marker that means act now.
- Established
- A decision settled it.
- Rejected
- Set aside.
Keyboard
- ⌘⇧T
- Recall panel — from any app
- ⌘⇧W
- Full window
- ↑↓
- Move through the list
- ⏎
- Open the selected idea
- esc
- Back a step, then dismiss the panel
Shortcuts, Spotlight & Siri
Thread ships three actions. They appear in the Shortcuts app, in Spotlight, and to Siri — no setup.
- Recall in Thread Shortcuts · Spotlight · Siri
- Takes a phrase; opens the panel with that search.
- Show Open Loops Shortcuts · Spotlight · Siri
- Opens the panel on the unresolved questions.
- Continue a Thought in Thread Shortcuts · Spotlight · Siri
- Takes a topic; finds the best-matching idea and builds the handoff.
- Recall in Thread Services menu
- Select text in any app → right-click → Services.
There's also a Focus filter: add Thread to a Focus in System Settings and the return-nudge notification stays quiet while that Focus is on.
thread:// links
For Raycast, Alfred, a Shortcut's “Open URL” action, or a script. Open any of these:
- thread://recall?q=…
- Open the panel and search for the text
- thread://idea/<id>
- Open that idea's detail
- thread://loops
- Open the Open loops list
- thread://continue?idea=<id>
- Build and copy that idea's handoff
- thread://continue?topic=…
- Resolve the best-matching idea, then continue it
Idea ids that contain :: must be percent-encoded (conv%3A%3A4).
How Thread runs
Recall and your idea graph live on your Mac and keep working if the backend is unreachable. Connected, the backend turns your conversations into ideas and syncs them back.
- Local recall
- Recall, search, and every idea's history are a local database. Opening the panel sends no request.
- Extraction
- Turning a conversation into an idea runs on Thread's server, via Anthropic's Claude. Offline, or before you've added an email, the model on your Mac does it. Pro also writes the “continue from here” line with a frontier model instead of the on-device one.
- Works offline
- Capture, recall, edit, and continue all work with no connection. Changes queue and sync when you're back online.
- No account needed to start
- Before you've added an email — or with no connection at all — Thread still builds your idea graph on-device.
When you want more
Free forever, 25 ideas
Everything above, capped at 25 ideas. You can always read, search, and recover everything — forever. When you hit 25, new capture pauses and a banner appears (you can dismiss it). Nothing is deleted.
Go Pro
In the app: Settings → Add email, enter your email, type the 6-digit code. Then sign in here with that email and upgrade. Pro lifts the capture cap and runs the continuation handoff through a frontier model instead of on-device. Sign in on another Mac with the same email and your ideas are already there.