Documentation
Form turns a description of a small, useful tool into a native Mac app. You describe what you need, answer a few questions, and Form writes, compiles, and hands you a real application.
Install Form
Form runs on macOS 14 or later. Building apps uses Apple's command line tools, which are a
small download rather than the whole of Xcode. Open Terminal, run
xcode-select --install, and accept the prompt. It takes a few minutes and you
only do it once; if you already have Xcode installed, you already have them.
Form is not downloadable yet. When it is, releases will be listed here with a version and a checksum you can verify.
Sign in
Form builds your apps on its own AI account, so there is nothing to configure and no key to obtain. Sign in with your email address and Form is ready to work.
Building an app uses credits, which are the money Form spends with the model on your behalf. A new account gets $5 of trial credits. Pro is $12 a month and includes $20 of credits a month. Your account shows what is left, and Form stops and tells you when it runs out rather than charging you for more.
Without signing in, Form still keeps everything you write as notes on each app. It will say so rather than pretending it is going to build something.
Your first app
On the home screen, describe the tool you want in your own words. Say what it should work with and what you want back. "I get a CSV of client contracts every month and I want to see which ones renew in the next 60 days" is a good description. "Make me a CSV tool" is not.
Form will ask only the questions whose answers change what it builds — which column holds the date, whether to count from today. Answer them in the conversation and it will get on with it.
If your idea is close to something Form already knows how to make, the Templates page is a faster start. Choosing a foundation gives you working source immediately, which you can then change by asking.
Build and export
The panel on the right of a project is the app itself: its icon, its appearance, what it was built from, and every version you have saved. Build app compiles the latest version into a real, sandboxed Mac application, signs it, and offers to open it.
If the app does not compile, Form reads the compiler's own output, fixes the problem, and tries again. After two attempts it stops and tells you rather than looping.
Export saves a copy anywhere on your Mac. Apps are signed for you, on this Mac, so they run here without fuss. Sending one to a colleague will ask for their permission to open, because it is signed by you rather than distributed by Apple.
Asking for changes
Keep talking in the same conversation. Describe what you want different and Form writes a new version. Every version is kept, so if a change loses something that worked, choose Restore on the earlier version in the app details panel and build again.
You can change the app's icon and its appearance at any time. Both take effect the next time you build, and Form will tell you when a built app is older than your current choices.
Where your work lives
Projects, conversations, and versions are stored on your Mac under
~/Library/Application Support/Form. Signing in gives your account its own
separate area; work you did before signing in stays where it is rather than being moved
without asking.
Once you are signed in, Form also keeps a copy with your account, so signing in on another Mac brings your apps back — the conversation, the versions and the source. It is a backup, not a shared document: if you edit the same app on two Macs, the one you saved last is the one that is kept.
What you write in a project is sent to Form so the model can write your app. Nothing else is sent anywhere. See how Form handles your data.