Support

If something’s broken or unclear, file an issue on github.com/ivshestakov/skald.app/issues or email hello@panic-kit.com.

• 01Download Skald-X.Y.Z.dmg from the latest release.
• 02Double-click the DMG to open it. A window appears with the Skald icon and an Applications shortcut.
• 03Drag the Skald icon onto the Applications shortcut.
• 04Eject the disk image. Open Applications, double-click Skald — it puts an icon in your menu bar.

On first launch Skald asks for Accessibility permission. This is what lets it paste the translation into the app you were typing in — without it, Skald can show you the translation in its own panel but can’t paste anywhere else.

You can grant it later in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. Toggle Skald on. You’ll need to do this once per major macOS update.

Skald checks for updates daily via the Sparkle framework, reading the appcast at panic-kit.com/skald/appcast.xml. When a new version is available, you see a standard “Update Available” prompt — click Install and Skald downloads, replaces itself, and relaunches.

Manual check: menu-bar icon → Check for Updates…

• Apple (offline) & Google (free)No setup. Apple is on-device — first use triggers a one-time model download. Google uses the public translate.googleapis.com endpoint.
• DeepL & ClaudeBring-your-own-key. Get a key from deepl.com or console.anthropic.com, paste it into Settings → Model. Keys live in the system Keychain and are never logged or sent anywhere except to the engine itself.

• The hotkey doesn’t open the panelUsually a conflict with another app that grabbed the same combo first. Open Settings → Shortcuts and rebind to something else.
• Translation pastes into the wrong appSkald pastes into whichever app had focus just before you opened the panel. Workaround: open the panel directly in the target app.
• “DeepL says quota exceeded”The free DeepL API tier is 500,000 characters/month. Check usage at deepl.com → Account → Usage.
• Apple engine fails on first useApple’s on-device translation needs to download the model for each language pair on first use. This requires a network connection. ~50–100 MB per pair, one time.

• 01Quit Skald (menu-bar → Quit).
• 02Drag /Applications/Skald.app to the Trash.
• 03Optional cleanup: defaults delete com.ivshestakov.skald and remove keychain items via Keychain Access → search for “Skald”.