Pangur docsPangur for Mac
Pangur for Mac is the web app in a Mac window, with extra windows for Photos, the local Zotero library, recording, institutional downloads and the command line. This page covers installing, signing in and updating it, and what each Mac window does.
Pangur for Mac is the web app in a Mac window, with extra windows for work that a browser cannot do. Its main window shows the same workspace as pangur.io, with the same header and navigation, so Library, Ask, Write and the rest behave exactly as they do on the web. What the Mac adds are controls such as Import media from Photos, which appear in that workspace only when the page is open in the Mac app. The app has no account of its own: you sign in once in the main window, and it works on the libraries you already have.
Installing Pangur for Mac
Pangur for Mac needs macOS 26 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon.
- Open Pangur's download page and choose Download Pangur {version}. The note under the button gives the file size and the minimum version of macOS.
- Open the downloaded disk image and drag Pangur into your Applications folder.
- Open Pangur from Applications.
If the download page cannot reach the current build, it says so and shows Open your library instead. If you already have Pangur installed, choose Pangur ▸ Check for Updates… in the app.
Signing in
When the main window reaches Pangur's sign-in page, the Mac app shows a screen of its own with Continue in browser. Choosing it opens Pangur's sign-in page in your web browser, where you can use the browser's saved passwords, a passkey, or a sign-in you already have there. Once you have signed in, the browser hands the session back to the app and the main window opens your library. Your password is entered in the browser and is never sent to the app.
If signing in does not finish, for example because the browser window was closed, the app says so. Choose Continue in browser again.
Several accounts can be signed in at once, as on the web, and you switch between them from the account menu (Settings and several accounts).
Updates
Pangur for Mac keeps itself up to date. It checks for a new version every hour, downloads it in the background, and installs it when you quit. Every update is signed, and the app refuses one whose signature does not match.
When an update has been downloaded, a banner in the main window tells you which version is waiting and that it installs when you quit. Install now… installs it straight away. Later hides the banner, and the update still installs the next time you quit. To check for an update at any time, choose Pangur ▸ Check for Updates….
The Mac's own windows
The Mac app opens the windows below beside the main window. Each is opened from a control in the workspace, and a window opened any other way tells you which control to use.
Import media
Import media brings photographs and videos from the Mac's Photos library into Pangur. It groups photographs into sessions by the time they were taken, matches them to repositories by where they were taken, and files them on a manuscript in your catalogue. It can also rotate a photograph and save the rotation back to Photos as an edit you can revert. Open it with Import media from Photos on the library list's toolbar, or Import media in an item's More menu. The window needs access to Photos, which you grant in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Photos. The whole process is described in Photograph a manuscript.
Import from Zotero
Import from Zotero copies the library of the Zotero app on the same Mac into a project: its collections, its references and its files. Zotero itself is not changed. Zotero must be running, with Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero ticked in its advanced settings. Start the import from the project's settings, under Zotero on this Mac, or from the welcome page of a new account. If an import is interrupted, starting it again carries on from where it stopped (Import from Zotero).
Record audio
Record audio records an interview, lecture or spoken note with the Mac's microphone and files it as a new reference in the project and collection you are viewing. Open it with Record an interview or lecture on the library list's toolbar. After you stop, you fill in the reference's details and choose Add to library. The recording is not transcribed until you ask for a transcript. If it cannot be sent, the recording is kept on the Mac (Record audio and video).
Download source
Download source fetches a PDF that needs your institution's sign-in, using the sign-in flows you have set up, and attaches it to the item. For some publishers it downloads a book chapter by chapter and combines the chapters into one PDF. Open it with Download PDF from source… in an item's More menu. The item needs a web address, a DOI or, for a book, an ISBN. If the Mac app is too old for that item, the menu says so and asks you to update the app (Download through your institution).
Settings and saved sign-in details
Pangur ▸ Settings holds the usernames and passwords that your source sign-in flows need. They are kept in this Mac's Keychain for this Pangur account, typed only into the sites the flow names, and never sent to Pangur's server. If none of your flows needs saved details, the window says so and offers Add flows in Source flows, which opens the web settings where flows are set up.
Shell status
Shell status shows whether the Mac app's own side is signed in: the web session, a shortened form of the access token and the server address, with Check API access. It exists for diagnosing a problem. The Mac windows rely on the main window's session, so if this window shows you as signed out, sign in in the main window first.
The command-line tool
Pangur for Mac includes the command-line tool. Each time the app starts, it writes pangur and zcp commands into ~/.local/bin that run the copy inside the app, which means that updating the app updates the tool. It leaves those names alone if another installation, such as one made with pipx or uv, already owns them, and it does not put them back if you delete them after the first install.
On first install, if none of your shell's start-up files mentions ~/.local/bin, the app adds it to your PATH in ~/.zprofile for zsh or ~/.bash_profile for bash. Other shells, such as fish, are left alone (The command line).
Working offline on the Mac
Because the main window is the web app, it works offline exactly as the web app does in a browser: it keeps a copy of each project's library, queues changes to items, notes, collections and highlights, and sends them when the connection returns (Working offline). The Mac's own windows need a connection to send anything to Pangur, although a recording that fails to send is kept on the Mac.
Permissions
Pangur for Mac asks for these permissions when it first needs them:
| Permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| Photos | Importing photographs and videos, and saving rotations back to Photos |
| Microphone | Recording audio |
| Location | Noting where a recording was made |
If you turned one down, you can allow it later in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security.
Pangur on your devices
You can use Pangur from the web app, the Mac app, the iPhone and iPad app, the browser extension, the command line or a connected assistant. This page says what each is for, what they share, and which versions of macOS, iOS and the browsers they need.
Pangur for iPhone and iPad
The iPhone and iPad app has its own screens for capturing, reading, asking and writing on the same account as the web. This page describes how the app is organised, signing in, its settings, the iPad layout and shortcuts, and the few tasks that still open on the web.