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Install on a Mac

Coming soon. Install GigaCAD for macOS, open it the first time, and find your projects in Finder.

GigaCAD for macOS is in development and isn’t available to download yet. Until it is, use GigaCAD in your browser or with the command-line tool. This page describes how it will work.

GigaCAD for macOS puts your projects in a GigaCAD folder in your home folder, laid out like the web directory. Branches you check out are editable; everything else is read-only.

Requirements

macOS 13 Ventura or later, on an Intel or Apple silicon Mac. Nothing else: the app brings its own copy of everything it needs, including the giga command-line tool.

Install and Open Anyway

Download GigaCAD for Mac, open the disk image, and drag GigaCAD into Applications. GigaCAD isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so the first time you open it macOS says it can’t check the app. To open it:

  1. Open GigaCAD from Applications and choose Done in the warning.
  2. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
  3. Next to “GigaCAD was blocked”, choose Open Anyway, then confirm with your password or Touch ID.

You only do this once. Updates install themselves.

Set up and sign in

GigaCAD opens a sign-in window and your browser. Check that the browser shows the same code, then approve it. A short checklist then creates the GigaCAD folder and adds GigaCAD to Finder’s right-click menu. If you already use giga in Terminal, the app uses the same sign-in.

The GigaCAD folder

Each project is at ~/GigaCAD/<owner>/<project>. Root files sync both ways: edit one and a new revision is recorded. Branches holds a folder per branch. Branches you haven’t downloaded show a dashed icon; right-click and choose Quick Actions → GigaCAD: Download. Releases keeps the latest release by default.

To edit a branch, right-click its folder and choose Quick Actions → GigaCAD: Check Out. Its folder gets a green dot. Each save becomes an autosave after a few seconds; use GigaCAD: Commit Version… to record a named version, and GigaCAD: Check In when you’re done. The same actions are in the GigaCAD window.

The command-line tool

In GigaCAD’s Settings, choose Install Command Line Tool to use giga in Terminal without installing Node. See Command-line tool.

Uninstall

Quit GigaCAD from the menu bar, drag it from Applications to the Trash, and delete the GigaCAD: … workflows in ~/Library/Services. Your GigaCAD folder stays; read-only files in it can be unlocked in Finder with Get Info.