How to install Typeahead

Typeahead runs entirely on your Mac. There are no cloud accounts to set up and nothing leaves your computer. The whole process takes about two minutes, most of which is downloading the AI model.

What you need

• macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
• Apple Silicon (M1 or later) or Intel Mac
• At least 8 GB of RAM
• About 3 GB of free disk space (for the app and the AI model)

Download and install

1. Go to typeahead.ai and click "Get Typeahead." Complete the checkout to get your license key.
2. You'll receive a download link and a license key by email. The key looks like this: TA-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
3. Open the downloaded .dmg file and drag Typeahead into your Applications folder.
4. Launch Typeahead from Applications.

Activate your license

On first launch, Typeahead will ask for your license key. Paste the key from your email (it starts with TA-) and click Activate. The app verifies your key online once, then works offline indefinitely.

Your license is stored in the macOS Keychain, so it survives app updates and reinstalls.

Grant accessibility access

Typeahead needs accessibility permission to read the text field you're typing in and show suggestions. This is the only permission it requires.

1. After activation, Typeahead's onboarding will prompt you to enable accessibility access.
2. Click the button to open System Settings. Navigate to Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
3. Find Typeahead in the list and toggle it on. You may need to enter your Mac password.
4. Switch back to Typeahead. The onboarding will detect the permission and move to the next step automatically.

Typeahead does not request input monitoring, screen recording, or any other permissions. Accessibility access is used solely to read the current text field and insert suggestions.

Download the AI model

Typeahead runs a local AI model on your Mac for generating suggestions. During onboarding, you'll choose which model to download:

• Gemma 3 4B (2.5 GB, recommended) — best balance of speed and quality
• Qwen 3 4B (2.5 GB) — alternative style, similar performance
• Qwen 3 1.7B (1.7 GB) — lighter option for Macs with less memory

Pick a model and wait for the download to finish. This usually takes a minute or two depending on your internet connection. You can change models later in Settings > Model.

Set your shortcuts

The final onboarding step lets you configure keyboard shortcuts:

• Accept suggestion — Tab (default)
• Accept next word — → right arrow (default)
• Dismiss suggestion — Esc (default)

You can also choose whether to start Typeahead at login and check for updates automatically. Both are on by default.

Start typing

That's it. Open any app and start typing. Typeahead will show ghost text suggestions that you can accept with Tab or dismiss with Esc. If you don't see suggestions right away, give it a moment while the model loads for the first time.

If you run into any issues, check our troubleshooting guides or reach out at hello@typeahead.ai.