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Installation

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Lucas Skog edited this page Jul 10, 2026 · 2 revisions

Installation

referat runs on Windows 10 and 11. Installing takes a minute or two.

1. Download the installer

Download the latest installer from the releases page:

referat-0.1.0-setup.exe

The direct link is also on the landing page.

2. Run it — and the SmartScreen warning

The 0.1 build is signed with a self-signed certificate, which Windows does not trust by default, so when you run the installer SmartScreen will most likely show a blue dialog:

Windows protected your PC

This is expected for a new app from an independent developer without a CA-issued certificate — it is not a sign that anything is wrong. To continue:

  1. Click More info.
  2. Click Run anyway.

The installer then runs normally. CA-issued signing is on the Roadmap; once in place, this warning will disappear.

For organizations: the public certificate (referat-codesign.cer) is attached to each release. Deploying it to Trusted Publishers via GPO or Intune removes the warning across your fleet, and you can verify every binary's signature (subject CN=Lucas Skog, O=referat) before rollout.

3. First-run onboarding

The first time you open referat, a short setup guide walks you through four steps. You can skip it and return to it later from Settings.

Step 1 — Welcome

A brief description of what the app does. No configuration here — just click Get started.

Step 2 — Where should the AI run?

This is the key choice. It decides where your audio and text are sent. You can change it any time in Settings. Three options:

  • On this computer — nothing leaves your machine. Requires a local AI server running on your computer. See Local AI Setup for the full guide.
  • On the company server — your IT department gives you an address (a base URL) and, if needed, an API key to paste in.
  • Cloud service — use OpenAI or Azure OpenAI by entering your API key.

referat configures transcription and summarization as two independent providers, so you can, for example, transcribe locally and summarize in the cloud. See Configuration for the details of each field.

Step 3 — Connection test

referat runs a real request against both the transcription and summarization providers and shows a green check for each, or a plain-language explanation if one fails (for example "wrong or missing API key" or "the server isn't responding — check the address"). You can Continue anyway if you want to finish setup and fix a provider later.

Step 4 — Microphone test

Pick your microphone and speak — the level meter should move. This confirms referat can hear you before your first real recording.

When you finish, you land on the home screen with a big Start recording button.

Where your data lives

Recordings, transcripts and minutes are stored under:

%APPDATA%\referat\meetings

One folder per meeting. API keys are stored encrypted (Windows DPAPI) in %APPDATA%\referat\settings.json. See Configuration and Architecture for more.

Next steps

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