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Macro Studio Docs

Installation

Download

Section titled “Download”

Visit the download page to get the latest version of Macro Studio for your platform. Builds are signed and notarized on macOS and code-signed on Windows. Linux AppImages are distributed unsigned — there’s no equivalent of Apple Developer or Microsoft Trusted Signing infrastructure on Linux.

macOS

Section titled “macOS”

Apple Silicon required. Macro Studio for macOS is an arm64-only build — it runs on M1, M2, M3, M4 and later Macs. Intel Macs are not supported; launching the .app on an Intel Mac shows “This application is not supported on this Mac.” If you’re on an Intel Mac, contact support so we can refund or hold your order.

  1. Download the .dmg file from the download page.
  2. Open the disk image and drag Macro Studio to your Applications folder.
  3. Launch Macro Studio from Applications. The first time you open it, macOS may show a Gatekeeper warning — right-click the app icon and choose Open to confirm.

Windows

Section titled “Windows”
  1. Download the .exe installer.
  2. Run the installer. SmartScreen may flag the file the first time it sees the new release — click More info → Run anyway if needed (the binary is signed; SmartScreen needs a few weeks to establish reputation after each new build).
  3. Launch Macro Studio from your Start menu or the desktop shortcut.

Linux

Section titled “Linux”

Macro Studio for Linux ships as an AppImage — a single self-contained file that runs on most modern distros without a separate installer. Tested on Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 36+, Arch, Debian 12+, and other distros with glibc 2.35 or newer.

  1. Download the .AppImage file from the download page.
  2. Move it to a permanent location (e.g., ~/Applications/) so it doesn’t get deleted when you clean up Downloads.
  3. Make it executable: right-click → Properties → Permissions → tick Allow executing file as program. Or from a terminal: chmod +x macro-studio-*.AppImage.
  4. Double-click to launch.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

“AppImages require FUSE to run” / libfuse.so.2 error: Ubuntu 24.04+ and Debian 13 dropped libfuse2 from default installs. Install it:

  • Ubuntu / Debian: sudo apt install libfuse2
  • Fedora: sudo dnf install fuse-libs
  • Arch: sudo pacman -S fuse2

Nothing happens on double-click: the file isn’t marked executable yet — see step 3 above. Some file managers offer a “Run” option in the right-click menu that prompts to set the executable bit for you.

Ubuntu 24.04+ AppArmor restrictions: AppArmor on Ubuntu 24.04+ can block AppImage’s sandboxing in some configurations. Workaround:

Terminal window
./macro-studio-*.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

Activating your license

Section titled “Activating your license”

When you first launch Macro Studio after purchase, an activation dialog appears automatically.

  1. Enter the email address you used at checkout.
  2. Paste the license key from your purchase confirmation email.
  3. Click Activate.

After activation, the app launches into Library view and remembers the license — you won’t see this dialog again on this machine unless you sign out or move the license.

Each license activates on up to 3 machines (for example, your desktop and laptop). Activations on a 4th machine will be refused — contact support if you need to move a license to a new machine and we’ll free up a slot.

Updating

Section titled “Updating”

Macro Studio checks for updates once per day at launch (enable in Preferences). When a new version is available, a small dialog offers Download or Later. The check is silent — no telemetry, no usage data, just a request for the latest version manifest.

You can also trigger a check manually from File → Check for Updates….

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”

Ready to stack your first image? Follow the Quick Start guide.