Install Kition

Install — macOS

Double-click the .dmg and drag Kition into Applications. macOS Gatekeeper will prompt the first time — click Open. The build is notarized, so you should not see the scary "cannot verify developer" dialog.

If you downloaded an internal or dev build instead, Gatekeeper may block it. Right-click the app icon and choose Open to bypass once.

• Disk usage runs about 480 MB once installed
• On Apple Silicon, prefer the arm64 build — Rosetta perf is noticeably worse
• On a multi-user Mac, install per-account under ~/Applications/

Install — Windows

Run Kition-Setup.exe. The installer is per-user by default — no admin elevation, nothing written to Program Files. That makes it survivable on locked-down work machines.

If SmartScreen calls the binary "uncommon", click More info → Run anyway. Reputation builds up after a few days of EV signing.

• Default location: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Kition
• Machine-wide install: Kition-Setup.exe /allusers (admin required)
• Portable build: unzip Kition-portable.zip anywhere, run Kition.exe
• AV may scan slowly on first launch — whitelist the install dir

First launch

First launch shows a short onboarding: pick a vault folder, choose a theme, optionally wire up an AI provider. The vault defaults to ~/Documents/Kition and can be moved any time from Settings → Vault.

When onboarding closes, the app starts the Go sidecar in the background on a random loopback port. That sidecar runs the agent, the table database, and the file index — none of it talks to the network unless you have explicitly configured a provider.

• First-pass indexing takes a few seconds to a minute depending on vault size
• The system tray icon switches vaults and shows sidecar status
• Bottom-right status dot: green means the sidecar is ready

Common install issues

• "App is damaged" (macOS): xattr -cr /Applications/Kition.app clears the quarantine xattr
• macOS startup hangs on a white window: delete ~/Library/Application Support/Kition/Cache/ and relaunch
• Windows installer 0x80070643: leftover older install — uninstall cleanly via Settings → Apps first
• Sidecar fails to start: firewall is blocking loopback — allow Kition.exe
• Corporate SSL MITM: see configure-provider for the custom CA setup

Verify the install

Want to confirm the sidecar is actually alive? Help → About shows the version and the sidecar port. Or open Settings → Diagnostics and run the self-check — it probes keychain access, vault write permissions, and provider connectivity.