Docs/Getting Started/Getting Started

Getting Started

The desktop app is the fastest way in — install, updates, your account, AI providers, and Unity integration, all from one place.

1. Install the Desktop App

  1. 1.Download the installer for macOS or Windows.
  2. 2.Run it. macOS is a drag-to-Applications install; on Windows, open the downloaded file and click Install — one screen, and updates arrive automatically from then on.
  3. 3.Launch Dynamo Engine.

2. Create Your Account

On first launch the app walks you through setup:

  • ●Start free trial opens the website to create your Dynamo Engine account (30-day Personal trial), or Sign in if you already have one.
  • ●Signing in happens in your browser; the app picks it up automatically when you're done.

Your Dynamo Engine account is the subscription. The AI itself is bring-your-own — that's the next step.

3. Connect Your AI

After sign-in, choose Set up my AI (or open Settings with the gear icon, any time). The Settings sheet is where everything lives:

  • ●Account — your Dynamo Engine sign-in, plan, and subscription status.
  • ●Subscriptions — already pay for Claude or Grok? Dynamo detects an existing Claude Pro/Max or Grok sign-in on your machine and can use it directly. No API key needed.
⚠ Claude — experimental, at Anthropic's discretion. Using a Claude Pro/Max subscription from a third-party app is governed by Anthropic and may be limited, re-priced, or stop working at any time — outside Dynamo Engine's control. For guaranteed access, add an Anthropic API key instead. Anthropic announced a billing change on Jun 15, 2026, then paused it; the policy remains in flux — Anthropic's note. New to Claude Code? How to log in.
⚠ Grok (xAI) — experimental. Driving Grok on a SuperGrok / X-Premium plan is beta and xAI's consumer terms don't yet address it, so it may be limited or change at any time. For guaranteed access, set XAI_API_KEY. Needs the Grok CLI installed and signed in (grok login).
  • ●API keys — paste a key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or OpenRouter. Each row links to the provider's key page.
  • ●Custom providers — any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (DeepSeek, Together, a local server…). Add a name, base URL, and key, then use it as name/model.
  • ●Ollama — local models run with no key at all; if Ollama is installed it shows up as ready.
  • ●Default model *(optional)* — pin the model new sessions start with.
  • ●Launch — turn on Auto Mode to open projects with tool approval prompts off.
  • ●Updates — the app, the Dynamo CLI, and the Unity package each update from here, or all at once.

One provider is enough. You can mix more in later and switch models mid-session with /model.

4. Open Your Project

Back on the main screen, click + Add project and pick your game project's folder (or New project to start fresh).

  • ●For Unity projects, the app checks for the Dynamo Unity package and offers to install it — one click, then it's wired into the editor via MCP.
  • ●Opening a project launches a terminal *in that project* with Dynamo already running.

From there, just talk: ask about your scenes, have it fix a compile error, build a feature. Resume on a project card picks up your last session where it left off.

Auto Mode

Skip tool approval prompts with the -y / --auto flag, the Auto Mode toggle in /config, or the Auto Mode switch under Config in the desktop app's settings:

bash
dynamo -y

This is the flow mode: file edits and shell commands stop asking, so a long task runs start to finish while you watch instead of approving each step.

Three things still stop, in Auto Mode or out of it:

  • ●Hard-blocked commands never run at all — sudo, command substitution ($(…), backticks), parameter expansion (${…}) and process substitution (<(…), >(…)). Refused outright, either mode.
  • ●Writes to protected files always prompt — .env*, .git/config, .git/hooks/*, .ssh/*, credentials.json, *.pem, *.key.
  • ●Restoring a checkpoint and killing a background job always prompt.

Everything else runs — including pushes to main and force-pushes. Shell access is a single trust decision here: Dynamo doesn't rank ls below rm, so Auto Mode means the shell is open. Checkpoints are still taken before file edits, so /checkpoint is your undo there — file edits are snapshotted exactly, while files removed by a shell command are captured best-effort (a glob, a variable, or a very large tree can leave a marker with nothing to restore). Auto checkpointing can also be switched off in config, which removes the undo entirely.

Resume a Session

bash
# Pick from recent sessions
dynamo -r

# Resume a specific session
dynamo -r <session-id>

Next Steps

Accounts & Plans