When you open Solo for the first time, it normally initializes your local app data, license state, settings, and project list before showing the main window. If initialization fails or readiness stalls, Solo can instead show an error or recovery state after a bounded wait.
On a brand-new install, Solo also seeds a Welcome to Solo starter project with guided example commands. See The demo project.
First steps
- Add or open a project folder.
- If Solo detects project commands, review the onboarding suggestions.
- Choose whether to save suggestions to
solo.ymlor keep them local. - Review any untrusted command details before starting them.
If the folder already has a solo.yml, Solo syncs it and watches it for changes.
What to configure early
You don't have to configure anything up front, but a few settings are worth a look:
- Appearance — theme, interface font, and font scale.
- Notifications — notification levels are configured per project and per process; this tab manages system notification access, testing, and bell sound.
- Hotkeys — keyboard shortcuts for common actions.
- Tools — default editor, terminal, and browser.
- MCP — MCP server setup and the local HTTP API.
- Account — license status, feedback, version, and updates.
Auto-start
Solo can auto-start configured commands after the project initializes. Auto-start still respects trust and license limits. Changed command variants may need approval; an exact previously trusted variant can remain trusted, and project auto-trust can accept safe changes. Any command that remains untrusted must be approved before it can run.