Getting Started

Installation

Distill is available in two variants: as a direct DMG download from the store and as a Mac App Store version. With the DMG, drag Distill to your Applications folder after opening; the App Store version handles that for you. On first launch you first confirm the legal notices (Terms of Use and Privacy Policy); the onboarding assistant then opens. Once your 100 free credits have been credited, a welcome window also greets you with your current balance.

System requirements: macOS 15.0 (Sequoia) or later, Apple Silicon or Intel.

App Store vs. DMG Edition

Both variants share the same feature core. Due to Apple guidelines, payment, AI provider selection, and helper features differ:

Feature	App Store	DMG
AI providers	Distill Cloud only	Distill Cloud + Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama, Vertex AI
Payment	Apple In-App Purchase	Stripe (web browser)
Promo codes	—	redeemable via code entry
REST API	opt-in (Settings → API)	enabled by default
Auto-update	via the App Store	built-in (“Check for Updates…”)
Sandbox	fully sandboxed	—

AI credit pricing is identical in both variants.

Onboarding

The onboarding assistant walks you through the setup:

Choose an AI provider — Distill Cloud (default, 100 credits free); the DMG edition additionally offers Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, and Ollama. In the App Store edition this step does not appear: Distill Cloud is preset, and a welcome window shows your 100 free credits
Distill Cloud and Ollama require no API key. Optional: enter your own key for Claude/OpenAI/Gemini to save Distill credits
Done — you can start renaming files immediately

You can skip onboarding and configure the provider later under Settings → AI.

Your First Rename

Drag one or more files into the drop zone
Distill analyzes the files and shows suggestions in the diff preview
Review the suggestions — names can be edited before renaming
Click Rename to apply the changes

Folders are processed recursively. Previously renamed files are skipped automatically.