Everything ZPad can do,
in one page.

1 · Install & first run

From download to first summon in about a minute.

Requirements

• macOS 15.1 (Sequoia) or later
• Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) — current release builds are arm64; Intel Macs are not supported
• Internet connection for browsing (the app itself works offline)

Install

1. Download the .dmg from the official Releases page. Every release build is Developer ID–signed, Apple-notarized, and stapled.

2. Open the disk image and drag ZPad into Applications.

3. Launch ZPad. macOS may ask you to confirm opening an app downloaded from the internet — this is normal Gatekeeper behavior for notarized apps. Click Open.

4. First-run onboarding walks you through the hotkey and the trial: 30 days, fully functional, no credit card. The trial starts when you accept the offer — launching alone never consumes a trial day.

5. Press ⌘⌥P. The panel slides out. That's it.

Where things live

2 · The panel & display modes

Four ways to summon ZPad — pick the one that fits your muscle memory.

Summon & dismiss

• Hotkey: ⌘⌥P toggles the panel from any app, fullscreen included.
• Hot zone: move the mouse to your screen edge and the panel slides out automatically. Can be disabled in Settings → Behavior if it triggers accidentally.
• Menu-bar icon: click it for the classic menu (modes, workspaces, settings, quit).
• Dismissing keeps everything alive — tabs, terminal scrollback, and per-workspace state are preserved exactly as you left them.

Made for multi-screen

On multi-monitor setups the panel can follow the screen your mouse is on (Settings → Behavior → Multi-screen mouse following), and window geometry is remembered per mode.

3 · Browser

A real WebKit (WKWebView) browser — not an embedded teaser. Sign in, watch, download, develop.

Everyday use

• New tab: ⌘T, or the + in the sidebar. Tabs are typed — web, terminal, or chat — living in one sidebar.
• Unified URL bar: type a URL or a search query; ZPad routes it for you.
• Find in page: ⌘F (when a web view is focused).
• Zoom: ⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0 to reset.
• Jump to tab: ⌘1…9. Reopen closed: ⌘⇧T.
• Right-click tabs for rename, pin, duplicate, and close-others.

Favicons

Site icons are fetched via DuckDuckGo's icon service on first hit and cached locally afterward. Prefer zero favicon network traffic? Turn it off in Settings → Privacy → Favicon network fetch.

Bookmarks & history

Save pages as favorites (with folders) for instant access from the homepage, and revisit recent URLs via browsing history. Everything is stored locally — see Privacy.

4 · Terminal

A real terminal emulator (SwiftTerm) with a full PTY — your shell, your tools, your themes.

Terminal tabs

• Create terminal tabs from the sidebar + menu — each gets an independent session.
• Scrollback is preserved even after you dismiss the panel: terminal views are kept alive, not torn down.
• Your default shell is auto-detected from /etc/shells — zsh, fish, whatever you've set.

Works with your CLI stack

Anything that runs in a terminal runs here: git, npm, docker, ssh, vim — and agentic CLIs like Claude Code:

$ claude
# → reads your repo, edits files, runs commands
# → all inside the same panel you summon with ⌘⌥P

Themes & fonts

Built-in terminal palettes plus custom theming, adjustable font size, and a working directory shown per tab. Colors follow the system appearance.

5 · Workspaces & favorites

Workspaces are saved, switchable sets of tabs — think browser profiles for projects.

• Create workspaces like “Frontend”, “Infra”, “Research” — each keeps its own tabs, terminal sessions, and layout.
• Switch instantly from the workspace menu in the panel header; nothing is closed or lost.
• Favorites are bookmarked sites organized into folders, available from the homepage of any workspace.
• Workspace automation (Settings → Behavior) can re-evaluate and switch workspaces based on your active context.

6 · Command palette

Everything is one fuzzy-search away — even while the panel is hidden.

• ⌘K — open the palette from anywhere (works when the panel is hidden too).
• ⌘⇧A — palette scoped to tabs: fuzzy-jump between web, terminal, and chat tabs.
• Actions include new tab / terminal / chat, workspace switching, settings, and more.

7 · AI chat Beta

Bring your own model: any OpenAI-compatible API — including local Ollama.

Set up a provider

1. Open Settings → Chat and enter your provider's Base URL (e.g. https://api.openai.com/v1 or http://localhost:11434 for Ollama).

2. Paste your API key — it's stored in the macOS Keychain, never in plaintext. Local providers like Ollama need no key.

3. Click Test connection, then Fetch models to list what your provider offers.

4. Create a chat from the sidebar + menu and start talking.

What you get

• Streaming replies (SSE) with automatic non-streaming fallback
• Markdown rendering with copyable code blocks
• Per-chat model override, temperature, context window, and system prompt
• Send with ⌘↩ or ↩ — your choice
• Auto-titled conversations; pin / rename / clear / close from the context menu
• History stored locally as JSON under ~/Library/Application Support/ZPad/Chats/ — one file per conversation, yours to back up or delete

8 · Keyboard shortcuts

The full list. Global shortcuts work from any app; panel shortcuts when the panel is visible.

Terminal tabs keep their native key handling (shell history, copy/paste, Ctrl-C…); browser shortcuts only intercept when a web view owns the surface.

9 · Settings reference

Open with the menu-bar icon, the gear in the panel, or ⌘,.

10 · License & activation

30-day trial → one-time $69 founding lifetime license (first 500, then $99) · 3 Macs · offline-friendly · 14-day refund.

The trial

• 30 days, fully functional — every feature, no watermarks, no credit card.
• The trial starts only when you accept it during onboarding; merely launching never burns a day.
• Rolling the system clock back doesn't extend it (tamper detection).

Buy & activate

1. Buy inside ZPad — open the license screen in Settings and pick a plan (card or Apple Pay). The website only serves downloads.

2. Your license key arrives by email within minutes (via Resend). Keep it — it's your proof of purchase.

3. In ZPad, open the license screen from the menu-bar icon or the trial banner, paste the key, activate. Verification is signed (Ed25519) and can be validated locally.

Devices, offline & transfers

• 3 Macs per license — your MacBook, iMac, and work machine can all be active.
• Offline grace: an activated license works offline for up to 14 consecutive days (flights, cabins, outages). Reconnecting re-confirms automatically.
• Device management is self-serve: deactivate an old Mac from the app's license screen, or recover a license via email if you lose the key.
• Getting a new Mac? Deactivate the old one first if you're at the 3-device limit; otherwise just activate the new one.

Refunds

Full refund within 14 days of purchase, no questions asked. Email [email protected] with your order details. Details in the Refund Policy.

11 · Updates

Signed update metadata served over HTTPS — no silent binaries.

• Automatic checks can be enabled or disabled in Settings → Privacy. Disabled means ZPad only checks when you ask.
• Check manually: Settings → System → Check for updates.
• Update metadata is signed; the app verifies it before offering anything.
• Prefer manual installs? Grab the latest .dmg from Releases and drag over the old app — your settings and license carry over.

See what shipped in each version on the changelog.

12 · Privacy & security

Local-first by design. Every network call is listed, scoped, and (mostly) optional.

Full disclosure — what's sent, why, and how to switch each integration off — lives in PRIVACY.md. Release builds are Developer ID–signed and Apple-notarized.

13 · Troubleshooting

The fixes for 95% of support questions. Still stuck? Contact support.

14 · Uninstall

No uninstaller needed — and no data left behind if you don't want it.

1. Quit ZPad from the menu-bar icon.
2. Delete /Applications/ZPad.app.
3. (Optional) remove remaining data:

   rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/ZPad
   rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.zpad.* 2>/dev/null
   defaults delete com.zpad.app 2>/dev/null

4. (Optional) remove the ZPad entry from Keychain Access if you stored an AI provider key.

License refunds within 14 days: see the Refund Policy.