Install and Run

Getting Existential running is a short sequence you can repeat any time. You start it when you want to work with it, and you stop it when you do not. That choice is the whole posture of the product, so it is worth understanding before you install.

Why you start it and stop it

The Oracle keeps a language model resident in memory the entire time it runs. That model is what reads your notes, scores them, and reflects the shape of your thinking back to you, and holding it ready claims most of a capable computer's memory while Existential is active. So you start Existential as a deliberate act when you want to work with it, rather than pinning that memory from the moment you log in.

This is a calm trade. While Existential runs it does the work it was built for, and your machine stays usable, if tighter on memory. When you are done, you stop it and your machine is fully your own again.

Install

Existential runs from source. You set it up once and run it on your own machine. The product lives entirely on your machine and serves one person, which is you. Nothing is exposed to your network. The app is currently in closed beta, invite only.

You need a capable Apple Silicon Mac. The resident model wants roughly sixteen to seventeen gigabytes of memory while Existential is running, so you want a machine with enough headroom to hold it and still leave you room to work.

Start it and open it

Once it is set up, you start Existential when you want it and open it in your browser. The Oracle comes up, the model loads into memory, and the surfaces are there waiting: the morning brief, Capture, Library, the Console. You meet the Oracle's work when you look, and nothing summons you the rest of the time.

You do not pick a model. Existential chooses the one that fits your machine and loads it for you, so the resident model is matched to the memory you have. The product asks for the memory it needs to do the work.

Updates

When a new release is ready, Existential takes care of the update itself, and it protects your accumulated work while it does. The Oracle backs itself up first, taking a full copy of its state before anything changes. It applies the update at a safe moment, restarts, and tells you it has returned. The learning record it has built from your notes, your conviction history, and everything it has come to understand carries forward across the update.

If anything in the update fails, the Oracle restores the verified backup it took beforehand, so a bad update leaves you where you were rather than somewhere broken. You can also ask it to update on demand when you would rather choose the moment yourself.

Starting and stopping, in practice

Start Existential when you sit down to work with it, and let it run for as long as you want it present. Stop it when you are done, and the resident model releases the memory it was holding. Your notes, the graph the Oracle has built, and everything it has learned all stay safely on your disk between sessions. The next time you start it, the Oracle picks up exactly where it left off.