FAQ

The main difference is that Dyad is free, local and open-source.

This means that there's no lock-in with Dyad. Your code is your code, and it's all on your computer. You can seamless switch between Dyad and other tools because each app is just a regular Git repo on your computer.

Dyad also gives you flexibility - you can bring your own API keys and use your favorite AI model.

This means you can use things like Google's Gemini API, which has a free tier.

Dyad keeps all your app code locally. To find the your Dyad's app path, go to the app details screen by clicking on the app name in the top-left corner.

The app path is typically: ~/dyad-apps/$APP_NAME

Windows Defender SmartScreen is known to flag the Dyad installer file.

Rest assured, Dyad signs each software release with a code-signing certificate from Dyad Tech., Inc so that you know it's a legitimate copy of Dyad. You can also inspect our Dyad source code, as each release is built directly on GitHub.

Dyad has experimental Linux support. You can download it from the download page.

Dyad currently isn't tested on Linux and may have bugs. Also, Linux doesn't support auto-updates so you will need to manually download new versions of Dyad.

As long as you can run Node.js, you can use Dyad. The best way to find out if you can run Dyad on your computer is to download it and try it, it's free and takes minutes to setup.

If you don't have a powerful machine, we recommend using a cloud-hosted model like Google Gemini or OpenRouter's instead of a local model.

Dyad supports hybrid mobile apps which are mobile apps built using web technologies (e.g. React). This allows you to share your code between your web and mobile apps.

Dyad only supports JavaScript-based apps at this time.

Supporting other languages adds significant complexity to the product from both a maintainer and user perspective.

If you'd like to build apps in other languages (e.g. PHP, Ruby), we recommend using another AI coding tool or forking Dyad which is open-source.

Check out our Migrate & Restore guide for detailed step-by-step instructions on how to transfer your settings between computers.

You can disable auto-updates by going to Settings and then toggling off Auto-updates.

Dyad Beta allows you to get more frequent updates to Dyad and access new features so you can provide feedback on them before they land in Dyad Stable.

Dyad Beta will have more bugs so if you want a more stable experience we recommend using the stable channel.

You can get Beta version updates by going to Settings and setting the Release Channel to Beta.

You can go back to Dyad Stable from Dyad Beta by going to Settings and setting the Release Channel to Stable. You'll get future stable releases, but if you want to immediately go to the latest stable version, download the stable version and install it.

Dyad automatically creates backups of your settings every time you upgrade, so you can restore your previous settings.

Check out our Migrate & Restore guide which explains how to find and restore from these automatic backups.

Dyad is open-source and licensed under Apache 2.0. You can fork Dyad and make any changes you'd like. If you redistribute Dyad (e.g., a fork of the Dyad desktop app), you must attribute Dyad as the original project, for example: "This project is based on Dyad (https://www.dyad.sh/)".

Dyad is built as a desktop application, and while it may be possible to run Dyad on the server, it would require major architectural changes.

We recommend forking Dyad if you're interested in doing this. Unfortunately, given the complexity and unknowns, we are unable to advise on this.

We are currently focused on building Dyad and growing the community, so we are unable to do any kind of paid consultations. We are happy to have a one-off discussion for potential collaborations, so feel free to send us an email at [email protected].

Dyad currently does not have an affiliate program. We do have a referral program available for Dyad Pro members that provides extra AI credits for yourself and the referee for each referral that you make.