Quick Start

Install Huabu, create your first Space, add one piece of material, and have your first conversation with AI.

1. Download and install Huabu

Download the latest version from GitHub Releases. Choose the .dmg package on macOS or the .exe package on Windows, then install and launch Huabu.

2. Choose a Home Folder

On first launch, select a local folder and open it as your Home. Huabu stores your Spaces and their materials in this folder so you can choose where your work lives.

3. Configure models and keys

Open Settings () from the app header (or press Ctrl+,), then select Huabu Agent. The Chat Model is the only model you must set up to get started. Most providers ask for a Default model; Azure OpenAI asks for a single Deployment. When your provider offers multiple models, you can switch models for one conversation from the Chat Panel without changing the Settings default.

The same page also holds optional settings — a Utility Model for lightweight background tasks, Image Generation, and capabilities such as Web Search — that you can configure later.

API keys and sign-in credentials saved in the Huabu desktop app are encrypted at rest using your operating system's protected storage. Huabu never stores them as plain text.

Huabu Agent settings with the Chat Model provider, endpoint, and API key fields — Configure a provider, credentials, and its Chat Model or Deployment in Huabu Agent settings.

4. Create a Space

A Space is an independent place to think and work on a topic, question, or project. Inside your Home, select New Space to create a Space and open it immediately.

Huabu Space list with the New Space button — Create a Space for the topic or project you want to work on.

5. Add content to your Space

There are several ways to bring content into a Space:

Paste — copy text or an image anywhere and paste it straight into your Space.
Drag and drop — drop files from your computer into your Space.
Keep useful AI results — drag a useful block from a Chat reply into your Space, where it becomes its own node. See Drag content into the Space.
Upload or Link — from the toolbar, choose Upload Files to add a PDF or image, or Add Links to bring in a web page.
Create a node — start from scratch with a Note, Text, Frame, or Sketch from the toolbar.

Huabu toolbar with the Upload or Link menu open showing Upload Files and Add Links, alongside the Note, Text, Frame, and Sketch tools — Add content by pasting, dragging, uploading — or create a Note, Text, Frame, or Sketch from the toolbar.

6. Think and work with AI

Every conversation lives in the Chat Panel. Open it with the top-right button (), start a new conversation, and choose who you are talking to:

Huabu Chat — a plain conversation. Select the nodes you want as context, ask questions, and drag useful parts of a reply back into your Space to keep organizing your thinking.
Huabu Agent — a conversation in which the agent can also act on your Space. It works with your materials and structure and records its changes so you can keep or revert them.

You can add more agents too. Pair an External Agent in Settings → External Agents; afterwards it appears in the Chat Panel as an option when you start a new conversation, bringing its own specialized context or tools, such as understanding a repository or producing a presentation.

Prefer to ask right beside your material? Add an Agent Node in your Space to start a conversation in place, so it stays in context with the ideas and sources around it.

Where to next

Continue with Work in a Space to learn how to select, arrange, connect, and frame materials in a Space. For deeper AI workflows, continue with Work with AI or configure External Agents.