---
title: Get started with illuminate
description: Record, make a report, share it, and connect your AI apps. The first five minutes.
section: Start here
order: 1
updated: 2026-11-02
applies_to: 0.1
related: [illuminate-mcp, remote-access]
---
# Get started with illuminate

You show something once and talk it through. illuminate turns that recording into what the moment needs: a bug report, a how-to, or a prompt an AI agent can act on, plus a link to share.

## 1. Install and sign in

1. Download illuminate from your account's [downloads page](https://account.illu.mov/downloads) and drag it to Applications.
2. Open it and sign in with Google. Your account is where your share links live, so every link has an owner who can extend or remove it.
3. Allow screen recording, and the microphone and camera if you'll use them. You can change these any time in **Settings → System Permissions**.

## 2. Record

1. Choose **what to capture**: a window, a whole screen, or a region. A preview shows exactly what will be recorded.
2. Turn the camera and microphone on or off.
3. Start recording, show the thing, and talk it through as you would to a colleague. Stop when you're done.

If the take wasn't right, **Discard Recording…** throws it away before you make anything from it.

## 3. Make a report

After you stop, illuminate prepares the recording, then you choose what to make from it: a bug report, a how-to, a prompt for an AI agent, or a report type of your own (**Settings → Types of Reports**).

Reports are written by your own AI provider, with your own key, in **Settings → Connections**. Your key stays on your Mac.

## 4. Share it

**Share Everything** publishes the recording, the PDF and the agent package, and gives you **your link**: one address at share.illu.mov to send to anyone. Copy it and send it.

- **On Free,** the video plays from storage you own: your Cloudflare R2 bucket or your Vimeo account, set up once in **Settings → Storage**.
- **On Pro,** we host the video for you.

Your links, their views and folders are in your account at [account.illu.mov](https://account.illu.mov).

## 5. Connect your AI apps

Let Claude, Cursor or Codex read your recordings and reports, so you can say *"check my latest illuminate bug report"*. Set it up in **Settings → AI Apps**: [AI apps on your Mac](/guide/ai-apps-on-your-mac.html). With Pro, ChatGPT and Claude on the web can too, from anywhere: [Remote access](/guide/remote-access.html).

## Where things are

| To change | Go to |
| --- | --- |
| Your plan, devices, share page look | Your account, [account.illu.mov](https://account.illu.mov) |
| AI provider and key | Settings → Connections |
| Where videos are hosted | Settings → Storage |
| Report types | Settings → Types of Reports |
| AI apps on your Mac | Settings → AI Apps |
| Permissions | Settings → System Permissions |