Your first two minutes

What you’ll do: check that your Mac can run Butler, give your butler a name, and install it.

First, check your Mac

1. Click the Apple menu (the apple logo) in the top-left corner of the screen, then About This Mac.
2. Look for the macOS version near the top. Sonoma is 14, Sequoia is 15, and anything newer also works.

Name it

1. Go to the home page. Type a name in the box under the big Mac. Watch the Mac’s screen: your butler introduces itself by that name.
2. Pick something you’ll enjoy reading every morning. Bento, Jeeves, Mrs Hudson, Alfred, Penny. Letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes, up to 24 characters.
3. Click Download (it now says your butler’s name, for example Download Bento for Mac).

Your browser saves a file named after your butler, for example Bento.pkg, in your Downloads folder. That name is how your butler knows what it’s called.

Install it

1. Open your Downloads folder: click the Downloads icon near the right end of the Dock, or choose Go > Downloads in Finder. Double-click your butler’s file.
2. The Installer opens. Click Continue on each screen. If it asks where to install, choose Install for me only. Butler goes into a folder called Butler in your home folder, and it doesn’t need your Mac’s password.
3. If macOS asks whether you’re sure you want to open a file downloaded from the internet, click Open. Butler is signed by its developer and checked by Apple (this is called notarization), which is why macOS lets it open.
4. When the Installer finishes, Terminal opens by itself, and your butler says hello.

What you’ll do: answer your butler’s first questions, and sign in with a magic link. No password.

Your butler talks to you in the Terminal window. When it asks something, type your answer after the › and press Return.

Steps

1. Your butler’s name. It shows the name from your download. Press Return to keep it, or type a new one.
2. The Terms. Your butler shows one line: By continuing, you agree to the Terms and Privacy, with a link to each. They’re short. Press Return (or type y) to continue. If you type n, nothing is sent anywhere and you can come back any time.
3. Your email. Type the email address you read most, and press Return. Your butler sends you a sign-in link.
4. While you wait, your butler gets its things ready. You’ll see a line of dots. Leave the window open.
5. Open your email. Look for a message titled Your link to wake up followed by your butler’s name. Click Wake up in the email.
6. A page on buildyourbutler.com says You’re in. Go back to the Terminal window. Your butler has noticed by itself, and shows a tick: ✓ Signed in.

What you’ll do: paste your first two lines. Every lesson in this course works like this: one line, copied and pasted.

Your butler shows each line it wants (under headings like Step 2 of 4 · Where you live), then waits at the › for you to paste it. Use the Copy buttons here, then click in the Terminal window and paste with Command V.

Steps

1. Your town. Copy this line, paste it, change Lisbon to your own town or city, and press Return:

butler town Lisbon

2. Your butler looks up your town and tells you what it found, for example: Got it: Lisbon, Portugal. Your timezone is Europe/Lisbon, and weather comes in Celsius. If it’s the wrong place, paste the line again with the region or country added, such as butler town Springfield, Illinois.
3. The adults. These are the people the morning email is for. First names only, with a space between them:

butler adults Sam Alex

4. Your butler confirms: Thank you. I work for Sam and Alex. Children and anyone else whose plans matter come in Module 2.

What you’ll do: paste one more line and see your butler’s first morning brief. This is two minutes in.

Steps

1. Copy this line, paste it into Terminal, and press Return:

butler brief

2. Your web browser opens a page that looks like an email. Look for:
   • Your butler’s name at the top, and a good morning to your adults.
   • Today’s weather for your town.
   • News headlines. These come straight from the newspapers for now. In Module 4, Claude starts choosing and summarising them for you.
   • A note at the bottom listing what’s “not connected yet”: your calendar, your to-dos and your money. That’s the rest of the course.

Take a screenshot to remember your butler’s first day at work: press Shift Command 4, then drag over the brief.

What happens next

Your butler asks whether to start the course now. The course happens in Claude Code, an AI helper that teaches your butler new skills one lesson at a time. That’s Module 1. Press Return to stop for today, or carry on with Module 1. Either way is fine.