Mac · advanced path

Mac manual install.

Most customers should use the signed Mac .pkg installer on the download page. This page keeps the manual tarball path for advanced installs, troubleshooting, and scripted setups. Plan on about 5 minutes.

What you'll need

A Mac running macOS 13 (Ventura) or newer
About 5 minutes
The license key you received when you signed up
Comfort opening Terminal and pasting a few commands (no programming required)

Want the normal path instead? Use the signed .pkg installers at /download#mac; they handle the app placement and LaunchAgent setup for you.

Step 1 — Download the right manual tarball

Check your Mac's processor (Apple menu → "About This Mac"):

Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4): GlidePathMoney-macOS-arm64.tar.gz (~45 MB)
Intel Mac: GlidePathMoney-macOS-x64.tar.gz (~48 MB)

Step 2 — Extract and place the app

Open Terminal and run (assuming the download is in ~/Downloads):

# For Apple Silicon
cd ~/Downloads
tar -xzf GlidePathMoney-macOS-arm64.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/Applications   # a fresh Mac may not have this folder yet
mv GlidePathMoney ~/Applications/   # or anywhere you prefer
cd ~/Applications/GlidePathMoney

# Remove the macOS quarantine flag so Gatekeeper doesn't block it
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine GlidePathMoney 2>/dev/null || true
chmod +x GlidePathMoney

The xattr line clears the "downloaded from the internet" flag that macOS adds automatically. The signed .pkg installer does this work for you; this manual path may still need the extra Terminal step after you extract the tarball.

Prefer the signed installer

Honest heads-up: this manual tarball path is unsigned, and the xattr step above tells macOS to skip its notarization check. It’s the advanced/fallback route, kept here for troubleshooting and scripted installs.

Most people should use the signed, Apple-notarized .pkg instead — it’s available now: download it from /download, double-click, and macOS trusts it on its own (no xattr, no manual override). It’s code-signed by QuickTech LLC and notarized by Apple.

Step 3 — (Optional) Install Cloudflared (the secure tunnel)

Steps 3 and 4 only matter if you want phone access via your private subdomain. Using GlidePath on this Mac alone? Skip straight to Step 5 — the app is fully local without the tunnel.

If you don't already have Homebrew (most Mac developers do), install it from brew.sh. Then:

brew install cloudflared

Step 4 — (Optional) Provision your tunnel + start it

This pairs with Step 3. Paste your license key into the call below and run:

# Replace LICENSE_KEY_HERE and EMAIL_HERE with what's in your welcome email
curl -s -X POST https://api.glidepathmoney.com/provision \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"license_key":"LICENSE_KEY_HERE","email":"EMAIL_HERE"}'

The response contains your hostname and connector_token. Copy the connector_token — you'll paste it in the next command.

# Register cloudflared with your token (the long string from the previous response)
sudo cloudflared service install YOUR_CONNECTOR_TOKEN_HERE
sudo launchctl start com.cloudflare.cloudflared

Step 5 — Start the app

Back in Terminal:

cd ~/Applications/GlidePathMoney
./GlidePathMoney

Open your browser to http://localhost:5000.

Step 5b — Activate (first launch only)

The first screen you'll see is Activate, not the dashboard — enter the license key and the purchase email from your welcome email (the Step 4 tunnel call doesn't activate the app; this screen does). Accept the license agreement once, and you land on the dashboard with the guided welcome card asking you to add your household, accounts, etc. Activation re-checks weekly in the background; day to day you go straight to the dashboard.

Step 6 — (Optional) Make it start at login

To have GlidePath Money launch automatically when you log into your Mac, create a Launch Agent. Save the file below as ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.glidepathmoney.app.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.glidepathmoney.app</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Applications/GlidePathMoney/GlidePathMoney</string>
  </array>
  <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
  <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Applications/GlidePathMoney</string>
  <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
  <dict>
    <key>GLIDEPATHMONEY_DATA_FOLDER</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Application Support/GlidePath Money/data</string>
  </dict>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Replace YOUR_USERNAME with your Mac username. Then:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.glidepathmoney.app.plist

Where your data lives

On Mac, GlidePath Money defaults to ~/Library/Application Support/GlidePath Money/data for your CSVs. You can override this by setting GLIDEPATHMONEY_DATA_FOLDER in your shell environment or in the LaunchAgent plist above.

Updating to a newer version

For the normal path, download the latest signed Mac installer from /download#mac and run it. If you stay on the manual tarball path, download the latest tar.gz from this page, extract it over the old folder, and re-launch the app. Your data folder is untouched either way.

Stuck?

Email [email protected] with the exact step you're on and any error message. If you are not deliberately using the manual path, start with the signed Mac installer; it is the path we expect most customers to use.