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Studio for Mac installs like any other Mac app. The first launch asks for one permission and then finds your pad on its own.

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Install

1

Download the app

Get the DMG from the download link on the overview page.
2

Drag it to Applications

Open the DMG and drag MinimalPad Studio into your Applications folder. Eject the disk image afterwards.
3

Open it

Launch MinimalPad Studio from Applications or Spotlight.
The app is signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without a security warning. If you see one, you likely have an older or partial download — download it again.

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First launch

Two things happen the first time you open Studio. macOS asks whether MinimalPad Studio may use Bluetooth. Click Allow. A USB cable is enough for editing keys, but app profiles and profile colours need Bluetooth as well when the pad is connected wirelessly. If you dismiss the prompt, you can grant it later in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Bluetooth. Studio appears in the menu bar. The icon is the MinimalPad mark — the peaks cut out of a rounded square. While the window is open Studio also has a Dock icon. Closing the window leaves it running in the menu bar, which is where profile switching happens and where Open app keys get their app opened. To quit properly, click the menu bar icon and choose Quit.

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Connect your pad

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Over USB

Plug the pad into your Mac with a USB-C data cable. Studio finds it within about two seconds — there’s no port to pick.
A charge-only USB-C cable carries power but no data. If the pad’s lights come on but Studio never finds it, try a different cable first.
Studio checks the pad’s name and hardware serial number before it reads anything, so it never edits the wrong device. If it finds another ZMK keyboard or a second MinimalPad, it stays read-only and asks you to disconnect the extra hardware.
Only one app can hold the pad’s USB port. If Studio says another app is using it, quit Studio for browser or any other tool that has the pad connected.

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Over Bluetooth

1

Pair the pad with your Mac

Open System Settings › Bluetooth and pair MinimalPad like any other keyboard. The pad advertises itself when the Bluetooth profile it’s on has nothing paired to it yet — see Bluetooth profiles if you need to free one up.
2

Let Studio find it

Once macOS shows the pad as connected, Studio picks it up on its own and edits it just as it would over a cable. Replies arrive in smaller pieces over Bluetooth, so the first load takes a little longer.
For untethered use the pad needs a charged 3.7 V LiPo battery, which is not included. See What you need.

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When both are connected

With a cable and Bluetooth both available, Studio uses the cable. Unplug it and Studio moves to Bluetooth without losing your place; plug it back in and it moves back. You don’t need to do anything.

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When the connection is lost

If Studio loses the pad for good — the cable is out and Bluetooth has dropped — the window goes back to the connection screen and says why. Your layout is safe on the pad. Plugging the cable in or out on its own doesn’t do this; the window stays where it is.

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Open at login

Turn on Open at login in the menu bar pop-out and Studio starts with your Mac. It opens straight into the menu bar — no window, no Dock icon — and connects to the pad as usual, so app profiles work from the moment you log in. macOS keeps this setting under System Settings › General › Login Items, where you can also turn it off.

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Next

Change what a key does

Click a key, pick what it should do.

Set up app profiles

Make the pad follow the app in front of you.