First launch
The first time you open HappyVibe, it greets you with one small window in three beats: a hello, two setup steps, and a handover to your first session. This is step 2 of 5, and you can leave it whenever you like.
When you see it
Section titled “When you see it”The setup window appears only on a fresh install, before you’ve added a project or started a session, and only until you close it. If you’ve used HappyVibe before, it stays out of your way.
Say hello
Section titled “Say hello”The HappyVibe logo hops in from the right, the name drops into place, and the tagline appears: “Good vibes, real code.”
It lasts about two and a half seconds. Any click or key skips straight to the end. If your computer is set to reduce motion, you see the finished frame instead of the animation.
Connect a model
Section titled “Connect a model”The app’s first step reads “Connect a model”: “The brain. Sign in with a plan you already pay for, run a free one on this computer, or paste an API key.”
- Pick one of the choices: Sign in with a plan, Free, on this computer or Paste an API key. The free choice appears only when HappyVibe finds Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp (free apps that run AI models on your own computer) running with at least one model.
- Follow it through. Connect a model walks through each choice.
- When a model is ready, the step folds away to a ✓. If the provider refuses your key, the step stays open with a red line saying why, so you can paste another.
Want more than the three choices? The line under them reads “Every option lives on the Models page.” Clicking Models closes the setup window and takes you there.
Pick a project
Section titled “Pick a project”The second step reads “Pick a project”: “A folder on your computer. The agent works in there — and asks first before touching anything outside it.”
- Choose how to start:
- Open a folder… picks a folder you already have.
- Start fresh… makes a new, empty one. Type a name in “Name your project” and click Create it. The app tells you where it goes: “Created in your Documents folder, under HappyVibe.”
- The step folds away to a ✓.
The folder you pick becomes your first workspace. A workspace is how a project shows up in HappyVibe’s sidebar: the project is the folder and its files, and the workspace is where you start sessions on it and keep its settings.
On a Windows computer without Git for Windows, one more line appears under the steps: “Install Git for Windows for the best experience — HappyVibe will use its shell automatically, and sub-agents need it.” In plain words: HappyVibe works best with Git for Windows, and subagents (helper agents the main agent hands work to) need it. Without it, the agent runs its commands in PowerShell instead.
Watch the handover
Section titled “Watch the handover”With both steps ticked, the window says “You’re in.” and “Opening your first session…”. A moment later it closes and opens a session in your new workspace, with a few suggested first prompts waiting above the message box.
If you quit after the first step, the next launch opens with it already ticked.
Setting up yourself instead
Section titled “Setting up yourself instead”The ✕ in the top-right corner is the way out. Its tooltip reads “I’ll set up myself”.
On the keyboard, Esc closes the window. While the animation plays, the first Esc skips it and a second one closes the window. Clicking outside the window does nothing, so a stray click can’t close it.
Once closed, the setup window doesn’t come back, and you don’t need it to. Everything it offers lives elsewhere in the app:
- Models: the Models page. Until a model is connected, HappyVibe opens that page for you.
- Projects: + add next to workspaces in the sidebar.
Done with setup? Your session is waiting: jump to Your first session. Want to see every way to connect a model first? Connect a model has them all.