# Installation

## System requirements

- **macOS 13 (Ventura) or later.** Older versions don't expose the
  CoreML / Apple Neural Engine surface Fregata's detector targets.
- **Apple Silicon (M1 or newer).** Intel Macs aren't supported —
  Fregata's detection path runs on the ANE, which Intel chips don't
  have.
- **About 2 GB free disk space** for the app itself and the bundled
  detection model. Camera recordings live wherever you point Fregata
  (default `~/Fregata/media/`); size depends on your retention policy
  — see [Recordings & retention](/guides/recordings-and-retention/).
- **A wired or strong-wireless network path** to your cameras. RTSP
  over Wi-Fi works but is sensitive to packet loss; Ethernet to the
  cameras is the boring, reliable choice.

## Download

The latest version is at:

> [https://releases.fregata.app/Fregata-latest.dmg](https://releases.fregata.app/Fregata-latest.dmg)

This URL always serves the most recent release. Specific versions are
kept at `https://releases.fregata.app/Fregata-X.Y.Z.dmg` if you need
to pin or re-download a known build.

## Install

1. Open the downloaded `.dmg`.
2. Drag **Fregata.app** to the **Applications** folder.
3. Eject the disk image.
4. Launch Fregata from Applications (or Spotlight, or Launchpad).

The first launch will show a Gatekeeper prompt — Fregata is signed
and notarized by 3rd Bit Labs, so the standard "Open" confirmation is
the only gate. The app is **not** distributed through the Mac App
Store; the App Store sandbox forbids spawning the helper processes
(ffmpeg, nginx, go2rtc) Fregata relies on.

## What happens on first launch

You'll see a small menu-bar icon (the Fregata mark in the top-right
of the macOS menu bar) and a welcome wizard that walks you through:

1. **Granting local-network access** — required so Fregata can reach
   your cameras over RTSP.
2. **Choosing where data lives** — the config file and recordings. Defaults are `~/Fregata/config/` and `~/Fregata/media/`. You can change these later from the tray's
   **Settings → Folders** menu.
3. **Choosing recording-buffer memory** — Smart memory (tmpfs,
   recommended) or a Basic RAM disk for the few seconds of footage
   Fregata buffers before writing it to your media folder. See
   [Performance — RAM-disk cache](/guides/performance/#ram-disk-cache)
   for the tradeoffs.
4. **Activation** — entering a license key or starting a 30-day
   trial. See [Activation](/getting-started/activation/) for the
   walkthrough.
5. **Creating your dashboard sign-in** — sets the password you'll use
   to open the web dashboard. See [Your dashboard
   sign-in](#your-dashboard-sign-in) below for the details — this is
   the one thing worth writing down before you click Done.
6. **Finding Fregata later** — where the menu-bar icon lives, how to
   surface it if a full menu bar hides it, and an optional checkbox to
   also show a Dock icon. See [Finding the menu-bar
   icon](/guides/settings/#finding-the-menu-bar-icon) for the full
   walkthrough.

![Fregata's first-launch welcome wizard on macOS, guiding the user through permission grants (cameras, recordings folder) before the menu-bar tray appears.](/screenshots/welcome-wizard.png)

Fregata does not run as a system daemon; it runs as a regular macOS app
that lives in your menu bar (optionally also in the Dock — see
[Finding the menu-bar icon](/guides/settings/#finding-the-menu-bar-icon)).
Quitting it via the tray menu stops recording and detection cleanly. If
you want the app to launch on login, toggle **Settings → Launch at
Login** in the tray menu.

## Your dashboard sign-in

Fregata's web dashboard — where you add cameras, watch live tiles, and
review events — sits behind a login. The **first-run wizard's account
step** creates it for you:

- The username is **`admin`**.
- Fregata fills in a **strong, random password**. Use the eye icon to
  reveal it, the copy button to put it on your clipboard, or the
  regenerate button for a different one. You're free to type your own
  instead — it just has to be at least **12 characters** long.

Copy the password somewhere safe — a password manager is ideal —
**before you click Done**. You'll need it the first time you open the
dashboard: choose **Open Frigate Web UI** (`⌘O`) from the tray and sign
in with `admin` and that password.

:::note[Your browser will warn "Not Private" — that's expected]
Fregata serves the dashboard over HTTPS with a self-signed certificate
for `localhost`, so the first time you open it your browser shows a
security warning. It's safe to proceed: in Chrome click **Advanced →
Proceed to localhost**, in Safari **Show Details → visit this website**.
The warning is just how browsers treat self-signed certificates — it
isn't a sign that anything is wrong.
:::

:::tip[It's logged once, at first start]
When it first creates the account, Fregata also writes the credentials
to the log — a safety net if you didn't copy them. This happens **only
on that first start**, never on later restarts, and the log is trimmed
over time so the line eventually scrolls out. Copy the password during
setup rather than counting on finding it later; see
[Finding or resetting the password](#finding-or-resetting-the-password).
:::

### Finding or resetting the password

**Find it (only right after first start).** The password is logged once,
when the account is created — so shortly after setup it's still there: in
the tray choose **Settings → Open Frigate Logs** and search for
`Password:` for the banner line `***    Password: <your password>` (also
at `~/Fregata/logs/frigate/current`). It is **not** re-logged on later
restarts, and the log is trimmed once it crosses ~5 MiB (the oldest
~2 MiB get chopped, ~3 MiB of tail is kept), so on anything but a
just-set-up install that line has usually scrolled out — reset it
instead (below).

**Change it.** Once you're signed in, use the dashboard's **Settings →
Users** page.

**Reset a forgotten one.** If you're locked out completely, have
Fregata mint a fresh password. Open `~/Fregata/config/config.yml` and
add:

```yaml
auth:
  reset_admin_password: true
```

Restart Fregata (**Restart Frigate** in the tray). A new random
password is generated and freshly written to the log — read it right
after the restart with **Settings → Open Frigate Logs**. Then remove
those two lines (or set the value back to `false`); otherwise Fregata
mints and logs a new password on **every** start.

:::note[Upgrading from an earlier version?]
The sign-in step only appears on a **brand-new** install. If you
upgraded and already had an `admin` account, your password is
unchanged — but it was logged only on that account's original first
start, so it's long since been trimmed out of the log. If you don't
still have it, follow "Reset a forgotten one" above.
:::