Install and first launch

Download

1. Download Labaro.zip. It’s always the newest version. Older ones are on the releases page.
2. Open the zip in Finder to unpack it.
3. Drag Labaro into your Applications folder.

Open it the first time

Labaro isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS stops it the first time you open it. You only need to get past this once.

1. In Applications, right-click (or Control-click) Labaro and choose Open.
2. In the dialog that appears, click Open.

If the dialog has no Open button, as on macOS 15 Sequoia and later, click Done. Then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about Labaro, and click Open Anyway.

“Labaro is damaged and can’t be opened”

The app isn’t damaged. macOS says this about some downloaded apps that aren’t notarized. Open Terminal, run this, then open Labaro again:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Labaro.app

The first launch

• macOS asks whether Labaro can send notifications. Labaro asks straight away so it can put a dot on its Dock icon when something needs you. Allowing it doesn’t turn on any service’s notifications. You choose those one service at a time, as described in Notifications.
• The Add a service window opens, because you don’t have any services yet. Pick the first one you want, as described in Adding services.

From then on, Labaro shows its icon and version while your first service loads. That takes at least 5 seconds, and at most 30 if a page doesn’t load.

Sign in

Each new service opens on its own sign-in page. Sign in as you would in a browser. Labaro keeps each service’s sign-in separate and remembers it, so you only do this once per service.

Slack: “Sign in with Google” doesn’t work inside Labaro. Use your email address and password, or have Slack email you a sign-in link.

WhatsApp: open WhatsApp on your phone, go to Linked devices, and scan the code Labaro shows.

There’s more about each service in Notes by service.