---
title: "Start with one Mac"
description: "Install the complete trails system locally. No second Mac or Tailscale account required."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://trails.manzanita.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Start with one Mac

One Mac is a complete trails installation. It runs the private web app and canonical SQLite database, collects its own coding-agent sessions, and makes a daily backup.

You need macOS and a Terminal. Existing sessions from Claude Code, Codex, omp, or pi make trails useful immediately; new sessions appear after installation too.

You do **not** need a second Mac, Tailscale, Bun, Node, a repository checkout, or a public server.

## Install

Run this on the Mac where you use coding agents:

Replace `Home Mac` with the name you want trails to show for that computer.

Setup downloads and verifies the correct standalone binary, starts the local service and collector, indexes existing sessions, and schedules daily backups.

## Open trails

When setup finishes, open:

**[http://127.0.0.1:7412/](http://127.0.0.1:7412/)**

The service always listens on loopback. In this default mode, trails stays local to this Mac and does not open a listener on your LAN.

> **Why trails calls this Mac the hub**
>
> The hub is simply the Mac that owns canonical state. It is also a collector and can be the computer you work on every day. “Hub” does not mean separate server hardware or a separate server product.

## What happens next

- New and changed sessions normally appear within one minute.
- The Mac must remain awake and logged in while you use trails.
- The canonical database lives at `~/.manzanita/trails/trails.sqlite`.
- A consistent SQLite backup runs every day at 03:00; the latest 14 are retained.
- If optional generated summaries are unavailable, trails uses the first prompt as fallback copy. Timeline collection continues.

## Go further when you need to

- **Add other Macs** — Optional. Connect work spread across several Macs through Tailscale.
- **Learn the views** — Read days, review a week, and return to active threads.
- **See how it works** — Follow a local session from its source log to a readable day.

> **Private alpha**
>
> Current version: . Installation details and stored data may change between alpha releases. Rerunning the same installer mode is the supported update path.

Source: https://trails.manzanita.dev/start-here/index.mdx