Installation

Meno is a native desktop app for Mac and Windows. You install it once, sign in with GitHub, and point it at a folder on disk — every Meno project is a normal Astro project, so there's no separate runtime or server to set up just to start editing.

This page gets you from download to an open project. Once you're in, head to the Quickstart to build your first page.

Download Meno

Get the latest release from the Download page. Pick the installer that matches your machine:

• macOS, Apple Silicon — .dmg for M-series Macs (M1 and later)

• macOS, Intel — .dmg for Intel-based Macs

• Windows — .exe installer (64-bit)

If you're not sure which Mac you have, open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac — the chip line tells you whether it's Apple Silicon or Intel.

Older builds are available on the GitHub releases page, but you should use the latest stable release unless you have a specific reason not to.

Install the app

On macOS: open the downloaded .dmg, drag Meno into your Applications folder, then launch it from there. The first time you open it, macOS may ask you to confirm — choose Open to continue.

On Windows: run the downloaded .exe and follow the installer prompts. When it finishes, launch Meno from the Start menu.

Meno checks for updates on its own. When a new version is available it tells you, and installing it restarts the app on the latest build — so you don't need to re-download manually.

Sign in with GitHub

Meno signs you in with your GitHub account. Click Sign in with GitHub on first launch and authorize the app in the browser window that opens.

Signing in unlocks two things:

• Repository access — Meno connects your projects to GitHub repos, so your .astro source is versioned and your team can collaborate. See GitHub for connecting repos and the permissions involved.

• Your plan — your account determines which features and limits apply. See Licensing for the available plans.

Once you're signed in, you land on the Dashboard, where your projects live.

Create or open a project

A Meno project is just a local folder — a normal Astro project, usually a Git repository — that Meno reads and writes. From the Dashboard you can:

1. Create a new project — Meno scaffolds the standard layout for you: project.config.json, colors.json, variables.json, and src/pages/ plus src/components/ to start building in.

2. Open an existing project — point Meno at any folder that already contains a Meno-format Astro project, including one you cloned from GitHub.

Either way the editor opens on the folder, and any change you make is written straight back to the .astro files on disk. To understand how those files map to pages, components, and content, read Project Structure.

What's actually installed

The Meno app is the only thing you install to start editing. Because a project is a real Astro codebase, the source on disk is standard .astro:

---
import { BaseLayout } from 'meno-astro/components';
import Heading from '../components/Heading.astro';

const meta = {
  title: "Home",
  description: "Welcome"
};
---
<BaseLayout meta={meta}>
  <main>
    <Heading size={1} text="Hello" />
  </main>
</BaseLayout>

You edit this two ways that stay in sync: visually in the Meno editor, or by **hand-editing the .astro files** directly. Meno keeps both round-tripped through the meno-astro codec, so opening a project in the editor and editing it in your code editor are interchangeable.

When you want to preview a production build or ship the site, that's plain Astro tooling (astro build) — covered in Deployment.

Installed and signed in? Continue to the Quickstart to build and preview your first page.