Getting Started

Install from the DMG, set up your first engagement, grant the permissions, and find where your data lives.

What you need

A Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 26 or later. The on-device model that helps Merriweather understand your work needs both.

Install

1. Open the Merriweather disk image.
2. Drag Merriweather into Applications.
3. Open it from Applications.

It installs once for the whole Mac. What it keeps is separate for each macOS user account. See Engagements and Accounts.

Merriweather has no Dock icon while its windows are closed. Look for the mark in the menu bar.

First launch

Two short forms appear in turn.

Configure Merriweather is about you: Your name, Your company, Company URL, and Your email. Only the name is required. Choose Continue.

Configure an Engagement is about the partner you work for:

• Partner company is required.
• Partner URL is optional. Merriweather fetches the site's icon once and uses it as the partner's mark.
• Work email is the address you use for this engagement. It picks which calendar account is read.
• Accounts receivable email is optional.
• Commitment is Base, Fixed, or Ad Hoc. It holds quantities, such as days per week, and never an amount of money.
• Advanced holds Tracking granularity, Continuation window, and the other time settings. Each starts at 30 minutes.

Choose Start observing. If you close the form without saving, nothing is observed until you choose Configure an Engagement from the menu.

Permissions

The Mac asks for each of these when it is first needed. You can also grant them in Settings under Permissions.

• Accessibility lets Merriweather see which app and window are in front, and read Zoom's Meeting menu and mute state.
• Screen Recording lets it see the windows of meeting apps in the background. It takes no screenshots. Relaunch the app after granting it.
• Microphone lets it hear your side of meetings you ask it to remember.
• System Audio Recording lets it hear the other side. It is requested the first time a meeting is remembered.
• Calendars lets it read meeting titles, times, and attendees, and start listening when a meeting begins.
• Notifications carry start, stop, and question alerts.
• Contacts is optional and off until you switch on Read the contacts on this Mac in Settings.
• Reminders is asked only if you choose Reminders under To-Do List. See Follow Through.

Open at login

Settings, under Startup, has Open at login. It is off until you turn it on, and each macOS account decides for itself.

Where your data lives

In your account's Library folder, under Application Support, in a folder named Merriweather:

• ledger.sqlite holds the ledger and everything Merriweather knows.
• Meetings holds one folder per meeting.
• Documents holds documents you added.
• Journal is where assistants leave notes. See Assistants.
• Logos holds partner marks.
• Logs/diagnostics.log is a plain log for support.

To open the folder, go to Settings, open Advanced / Debug, and choose Open data folder.