Pedagogue Beta About Pedagogue

Install the Pedagogue beta

You need a Mac and a paid Claude plan. Pedagogue sets up everything else the first time it opens.

Your download link is in your invite email. It works for 7 days after your invite was sent, and it was made for you, so please don't forward it. If it has expired or you can't find it, reply to your invite email and we'll send you a fresh one.

Before you start

You need two things.

  • A Mac on macOS 14 Sonoma or later

    Required

    Apple silicon or Intel.

  • Any paid Claude plan, such as Pro or Max

    Required

    Pedagogue uses Claude, and the journeys you generate count toward your plan's usage. There's no separate subscription. Pedagogue connects to Claude through Claude Code, Anthropic's command line tool. We can install it for you.

Install

  1. Download Pedagogue from your invite email

    The link in your invite email downloads a disk image (.dmg) and works for 7 days.

  2. Open the disk image

    Find Pedagogue-version.dmg in your Downloads folder and double-click it.

    The Pedagogue disk image, selected in Finder, with a cursor double-clicking it.

  3. Drag Pedagogue to Applications

    A window opens with Pedagogue on the left and your Applications folder on the right. Drag Pedagogue onto the folder.

    The disk image window, with the Pedagogue icon being dragged onto the Applications folder.

  4. Open Pedagogue from Applications

    Double-click Pedagogue in your Applications folder. The first time, macOS asks whether you're sure you want to open an app downloaded from the internet. Choose Open.

    The Applications folder in Finder with the Pedagogue icon selected and a cursor double-clicking it.

  5. Continue setup in your browser

    Pedagogue appears in the menu bar at the top of your screen, not in the Dock, and opens a window in your web browser. Setup continues there, and that browser window is where all your learning happens.

    The macOS menu bar with the Pedagogue icon circled.
    Pedagogue's setup page in the browser, which opens on how Pedagogue works.

What to expect on first launch

Setup opens in your browser. It starts with a short page on how Pedagogue works, then walks you through each step:

  • Install Claude Code

    Press one button and Pedagogue installs it, in seconds.

  • Sign in to Claude

    A Terminal window opens with Claude's sign-in, and a browser tab asks you to log in to your Claude account. When that's done you can close both, and setup moves on by itself.

    If macOS offers to install “command line developer tools”, choose Not Now — Pedagogue doesn't need them.

  • The optional extras

    Three more steps, each one skippable:

    • Python lets lessons work numbers out for real. Pedagogue can download its own copy, with nothing to install by hand.
    • Your phone or tablet reaches Pedagogue over Tailscale, a private network between your own devices. It's free for personal use.
    • Importing PDFs turns a paper into a journey. It needs a funded Mistral AI account; a typical paper costs a few cents.

  • Your settings

    Setup ends with a few switches, such as whether to send anonymous usage counts.

To come back to setup later, choose Setup and Settings in the ⚙ menu on Pedagogue's home page, or Set Up… in the menu bar. Until Claude Code is ready, the menu bar icon shows a blue mark.

Then you're in. A short tour shows you around the first time. Your library starts with one journey, Why Are There Seasons? Read it to get a feel for how Pedagogue teaches, try its figures, and archive it whenever you like. To start your own, type a question into the box on the home page and press Begin.

To reopen Pedagogue later, click its icon in the menu bar and choose Open.

Trust and privacy

Pedagogue is an app for one person, on one Mac. Here's what that means.

Your journeys stay on your Mac

They're plain files in a folder you can open, back up or move. We don't receive a copy unless you choose to send one with feedback.

Your lessons go between your Mac and Anthropic

They travel through your own Claude account and under its terms, as when you use Claude anywhere else.

Only your devices can reach it

There's no login screen, on purpose. Pedagogue answers only on this Mac, and on your Tailscale address if you set that up. It refuses requests from other websites.

It browses the web for you

To find sources and data, the teacher looks things up online, as Claude Code normally does.

Usage is tracked, never content

Pedagogue sends anonymous counts and timings, like "a journey was created", tied to a random ID for your library. It never sends a topic, title, question, lesson text, file name or folder path. You can turn this off in Setup and Settings.

Feedback is private to us

When you send feedback, you see exactly what will be sent first. It can include the journey you were on and a log of what the teacher did. It comes only to us and includes your email so we can reply.

Getting help

  • If something isn't working, click the Pedagogue icon in the menu bar

    Its Status list names anything that needs attention, and Set Up… usually fixes most issues.

  • If you can't get the app started, reply to your invite email

    Tell us what happened. A screenshot of the menu bar panel helps a lot. If the app is working but you can't connect to Pedagogue, use the feedback button on the menu bar app.

  • If you hit a problem or have an idea

    Click the Feedback button in the app. It shows you what will be sent before it goes, and you can include your journey so we can see what you saw.

  • If a figure is broken

    Click the bug icon on it and describe the problem. The teacher fixes figures in place. You can ask for any change to a journey the same way.

FAQ

Why is this a Mac app and not a web service? And why do I need my own Claude account?
Frankly, too many AI startups are all about running models (or delegating to models) and then charging you a subscription fee. I'm so tired of subscription fees. Aren't you? Pedagogue uses your local Claude Code to generate journeys.
Why just Mac?
It's just Mac. For now. We can expand to Windows and Linux if we see demand.
Why just Claude?
Candidly, Claude Code is pretty powerful and gives us a lot for free. If there's demand for other frontier company subscriptions (OpenAI, Gemini, etc.) we'll evaluate how best to add support. Also if there's demand for on-device models we'll look into it. However Pedagogue is designed with Claude in mind, which means spacious context windows, deep reasoning, broad general knowledge, and snappy response times. The local-model experience will probably be suboptimal unless you have some serious hardware.
How much of my Claude usage does a journey use?
It depends on the model and how rich you ask it to be. A full-fidelity journey on Opus with interactive figures uses the most; Sonnet, or a text-only or diagrams-only journey, uses much less. You pick the model, effort and fidelity for each journey, so you can save the heavy settings for the topics that deserve them.
Where do my journeys live, and do I own them?
On your Mac, as plain files in your vault folder (~/Library/Application Support/pedagogue/vault). Back them up, move them, or read them without the app. Pedagogue doesn't collect your journeys. The one exception is feedback: if you choose to include a journey in a report, it comes to us, privately. What Claude sees is covered by your own Claude account's terms.
Can I share a journey?
Yes. Export any journey as a single, self-contained HTML file. Anyone can open it in a browser, figures and all, without Pedagogue or a Claude account.
What if it gets something wrong?
It can. Pedagogue uses AI, and AI makes mistakes, so double-check anything that matters. When something looks off, say so: ask it to fix a passage, redo a figure or add sources, and it edits the journey in place.
Does it work offline?
Your journeys are on your Mac, but writing new ones (or answering a Define or Discuss) needs Claude, so you need to be online.
Does it work on iPad?
Yes, the same way as on your phone: open your Mac's address in Safari over Tailscale.
Can my family use it?
Pedagogue is built for one person per Mac account. Learners let you keep different styles and settings side by side, but they share one library. If we see demand for multiple users we'll evaluate how to fold that in.
What happens when the beta ends?
We'll communicate our plans based on how the beta goes.
How do I uninstall it?
Quit Pedagogue from the menu bar and drag the app to the Trash. Your journeys stay in your vault folder; delete that too if you want them gone.