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Install & first run

Download Sift, get past the unsigned-app warning, and finish the three setup checks.

What you need

• A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 13 Ventura or later.
• About 250 MB for the app and 0.6 GB for the Whisper speech model, plus room for Sift’s cache.
• An API key from OpenRouter or Anthropic. See API keys & costs.
• Premiere Pro, to open what Sift exports.

Download

Get the latest release from the Download page. There are two files with the same app inside:

• sift-<version>-darwin-arm64.zip, about 111 MB
• sift-<version>-darwin-arm64.dmg, about 119 MB

Each holds a folder with one program, sift, and a README.txt. Move the folder to where you keep apps, for example /Applications or ~/Applications.

Open it the first time

This release is not signed with an Apple Developer ID yet. macOS blocks it the first time, and you approve it once.

1. Double-click sift. macOS shows a warning instead of opening it. The title says “sift” can’t be opened or “sift” Not Opened. The message says Apple couldn’t check (or verify) that it is free of malware. The buttons are Done (or OK) and Move to Trash. Click Done.
2. Approve it in one of these ways:

   • System Settings (every macOS version). Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll to Security. Next to the line saying “sift” was blocked, click Open Anyway. Enter your password, then click Open.

   • Right-click → Open (macOS 13 and 14). In Finder, Control-click sift and choose Open. The warning now has an Open button. macOS 15 removed this shortcut, so use System Settings there.

   • Terminal. Downloads carry a quarantine flag, and the flag triggers the check. Remove it from the program:

     xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/sift

     Type the command up to the space, then drag sift into the Terminal window to fill in the path.

After this, sift opens without a warning. A new version needs the same approval once.

What happens when it starts

sift opens a Terminal window and then your default browser at http://127.0.0.1:<port>. The Terminal window is the app. Leave it open while you work, and close it to quit Sift. If Sift is already running, opening it again brings up the running copy instead of a second one.

On first launch, Sift unpacks its tools (ffmpeg, ffprobe, whisper.cpp, yt-dlp and the sound model) into ~/Library/Application Support/Sift/bin. Your events, profiles and cache live in ~/Library/Application Support/Sift too.

The setup checks

The first screen is Set up Sift: three checks, then point Sift at a folder of cards. A tools table shows what was found. Under it:

1. API key. Paste your OpenRouter or Anthropic key and press Test and save. Sift makes one small call to check it, then stores it in the macOS Keychain.
2. Whisper model. Press Download Whisper model (about 0.6 GB). Sift checks the file against its checksum. You can keep using Sift while it downloads.
3. Output location. Choose where exports go. Use _organizer/ next to the footage puts each export in an _organizer folder beside the card dump. Choose folder… picks one place for every event, and each export goes in a subfolder with the event’s name.

When all three are done, press Start with an event. Next: make a style profile or create an event.

Check your version

Open Settings → Diagnostics. The version is next to Copy diagnostics.

Updating

Download the new release and replace the old folder. Your data in ~/Library/Application Support/Sift stays where it is. Quit the running Sift first (close its Terminal window).