Install & first run
Brut is a native Windows app: one installer, one window. No Python, no terminal, no browser tab.
Requirements
- Windows 10/11.
- A billing-enabled API key for at least one provider (see Providers). A free-tier key usually has zero image quota — a first-call
429means billing isn't enabled, not rate-limiting.
That's it — the installer brings everything else.
Install the desktop app
- Download Brut-Setup.exe from getbrut.app/download — log in with the email address your beta approval was sent to (that address is your access; your approval email links straight there).
- Windows SmartScreen will warn about an unrecognized app — expected: the beta build isn't code-signed yet. Click More info → Run anyway.
- The installer runs per-user — no admin prompt — shows the beta license, and adds Start-menu and desktop shortcuts. Launch Brut from either.
The window appears in a couple of seconds; the engine starts (and stops) with it. A tray icon in the notification area shows the engine's status and offers the engine log and Quit.
Where things live
- Your work — projects, outputs, library, account state — lives in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Brut, as plain files on your disk. - Your keys live in the OS keychain (Windows Credential Manager), never in a file.
- The engine log is at
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Brut\logs\engine.log(previous launch kept asengine.log.1) — attach it when reporting a bug.
Uninstalling never deletes %LOCALAPPDATA%\Brut — your projects and keys survive uninstall and reinstall.
Updating
No auto-update in the beta: getbrut.app/download always serves the latest build — when we announce a new version, download it there and run it over the old version. Projects, keys and sign-in all carry over.
Sign in
Brut requires a free account (it's how we count seats during the beta — nothing about your prompts, images or keys is ever sent). On first launch you'll hit a sign-in screen:
- Continue with Google or GitHub, or
- Magic link — enter your email and open the link it sends you in the same browser.
Sign-in is required, but it never bricks you: once you're in, a 30-day offline grace keeps you working through flights and outages, and if the sign-in server is ever unreachable a "continue for now" option appears. The engine holds your session; the browser keeps nothing.
Add your provider keys
Click the key icon on the left rail (or the setup wizard walks you through it on first run). For each provider, paste your key and Brut validates it on save. Keys are stored in your OS keychain — never in a graph, never sent anywhere but the provider.
You can also set keys via environment variables before launching the engine (GEMINI_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, etc.) — handy for a shared workstation.
See each provider's page for where to get a key and its billing quirks. The quickest start is Google Gemini — a gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image (Nano Banana 2 Lite) render is about $0.03.
Finding your way around
The window has two homes for controls. The top bar is workspace chrome: the File ▾ menu, the project and graph selectors, the spend readout, ▶ Run, your account, and the engine status dot. The left rail is your tools: add a node, undo/redo, tidy, the Library, Marcel, keys, feedback, and the theme toggle. Hover any rail icon for an instant tooltip with its name, its keyboard shortcut, and one line on what it does — and the » pin at the rail's bottom expands it to show labels next to every icon (on by default; collapse it once the icons feel familiar).
The rail's + opens the node browser: every node grouped by category — Inputs, Text, Images, Video, Cinema team, Utilities — plus your saved Library composites. Hovering a row shows what the node does, what flows in and out of it, and whether it costs money ($) or is free. Click a row to place it at the canvas center, or drag it to drop it exactly where you want. (Pressing Tab over the canvas still opens the quick palette at your cursor — the fast path once you know the names.)
The functionality tour
Right after the setup wizard, Brut walks you through the interface once — a short spotlight tour of the canvas, the node families, projects, running & caching, the spend ledger, Marcel, and where your keys live. Skip it any time with Esc, and relaunch it whenever you like from File ▾ → Functionality tour.
The studio timeline (Marcel)
The Marcel button on the left rail (the pulse icon) opens the studio timeline — a chronological feed of what the engine is doing: planner reasoning, shot lists, runs, results, and errors. It's the home of Marcel, Brut's built-in companion, who'll chat and advise here in a coming update; for now it's your project's running diary. The timeline is saved with the project, so reopening it (even after a restart, or on another machine via a NAS share) shows the continuous history. A Raw events / Chat only toggle in its header hides the engine chatter when you just want the highlights.
Found a bug? Tell us from inside the app
The speech-bubble button on the left rail opens Send feedback — a bug, an idea, anything. Reports go straight to the team, tied to your account email so we can reply. Diagnostics (app/engine version, OS, recent error messages) are opt-in, and the modal shows the exact payload before you send — never your graphs, images, prompts or keys. Details in Privacy.
If the engine stops
If the engine dies mid-session, the desktop app tells you — a dialog with the last lines of engine output and a button to the full log — instead of a frozen window. If the app shows an "engine offline" banner, relaunch Brut. And if launch fails with "Port 8723 is taken", some other program on your machine is using Brut's port — close it and relaunch.