Nucleate
Setup & compatibility
Installation

To install Nucleate

Prerequisites

Check this page to make sure you’ve identified your hardware prerequisites. If planning to use local summarization, be sure also to have installed Ollama and FFmpeg/FFprobe. Both software will be auto-installed if not automatically detected during first time startup.

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An administrator account is required to install Nucleate on macOS. Installation will automatically trigger download of “Homebrew,” which requires “sudo” commands and the user password. The password is NOT stored in Nucleate and is only to enable auto-setup. Manually install Ollama and FFmpeg if you do not want to use the auto-installer.

Basic installation instructions

Nucleate was designed for quick, one-step deployment. On Windows, select the .exe. On Mac, double click the .dmg and drag the app into your Applications folder. That’s it!

On first startup, Nucleate will automatically seek a license file in your Downloads, Documents, and Desktop folders.

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On macOS, each of these three folders will prompt the user to confirm access. This is only to look for the license file.

If a valid license is found, it will automatically validate and unlock all Pro options. If not found, you can navigate to the file manually via “System/License” after first time setup is complete.

Once inside the app, follow the guided setup. All that’s needed is to select a User Mode and to identify the directories to use for Nucleate inputs and outputs. Completely your call whether to identify folders synced to a cloud service or to keep everything local.

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In the background, Nucleate will audit the available hardware on your machine and will attempt to automatically optimize settings. After first time setup, you can manually adjust the “AI Engine” settings to fit your specific style/preferences.

Connecting APIs

OpenAI services

To connect to OpenAI requires a funded OpenAI account and API key creation. To set an OpenAI API key inside Nucleate, navigate to “Integrations/OpenAI API” and paste a key. The key is stored on your machine using your system credential manager. Select “Validate” to check for a valid connection.

If a valid OpenAI API key is provided, more settings become available in the “AI Engine/AI Model Settings” panel. Toggle any of the available Summarizer or Transcription options to make use of the API service.

Notion services

Notion is a cloud-based note taking app. Nucleate can optionally connect to a Notion database so that you can publish and manage your summaries to the cloud.

To connect Nucleate to Notion requires a Notion account, a target database, and an API key. See this page for setup.

To uninstall Nucleate

Nucleate works like any other desktop app. On Windows, find the app in “Add or remove programs” and select to uninstall. On Mac, drag the app to the trash.

SoftwareFFmpeg/FFprobe