TransistorKit Documentation

TransistorKit is a macOS studio that turns a one-line idea into real, native apps — iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, the web, and a backend if you need one — built in parallel from a single brief.

You describe what the app does in plain English, watch it come together, and steer with feedback in the chat. When it's done, the result is a genuine project on your Mac that you can run, keep editing, or hand to a developer — not a throwaway prototype.

Install & activate

Download TransistorKit from the email we sent after checkout (or get a fresh link at transistorkit.com/recover).
Drag TransistorKit into your Applications folder and open it. macOS may ask you to confirm the first launch — that's normal.
A short welcome wizard gets you set up: activate your licence, check that your build tools are installed, sign in to your AI account, and pick your Apple signing team. You can skip any step and come back to it later in Settings.
To activate, paste your licence key — or just click the link in your email and TransistorKit activates itself.

Each licence runs on one Mac at a time — move it to a different Mac any time from Settings → Account. Reinstalling or updating won't use it up.

Your first app

Click New Project, give it a name, and choose the platforms you want (iPhone, Android, Mac, web are on by default). TransistorKit handles the setup — signing, identifiers, project structure — so you can get straight to building.

Then just describe your app in the chat and press send. You'll see each platform start building, and a working app takes shape in front of you. Keep talking to refine it — "make the buttons bigger," "add a settings screen," "use a calmer color scheme" — and it updates.

In a hurry or short on ideas? Surprise Me invents a complete app concept and builds it on the spot, and the Playground turns a single sentence into a running app in about a minute.

Working in the chat

Every project has one chat. It's where you describe what you want, watch progress, and give feedback. It always knows the current state of your build and your assets, so you can speak naturally — "the score isn't centered," "wire up the new textures I added," "ship it to staging" — without explaining where things are.

For long sessions, a small bar above the message box shows how much room is left in the conversation. When it fills up, one click summarizes the chat so far and keeps things responsive — you don't lose the thread.

You can also talk to it: tap the microphone in the composer to dictate your brief or feedback.

Every platform at once

TransistorKit builds each platform you selected at the same time, side by side, and keeps them consistent — add a screen on iPhone and Android gets it too. You can follow each platform's progress individually and open its result whenever you like.

Each platform's project is a real, standard project on disk (Xcode for Apple, Android Studio for Android, a normal web project for the web). Open them in their native tools any time, edit by hand, or collaborate with a developer — nothing is locked in.

Live preview on your devices

Run your app on a real phone, tablet, TV, or simulator and it shows up in the device strip at the top of the project window. Tap a device to watch its live screen right inside TransistorKit.

Because the running app and the chat are connected, your feedback lands in the right place — point at what's on screen and ask for a change, and it knows exactly what you mean.

Art, sound & music

Every image, app icon, launch screen, texture, sound effect, and music track your app needs shows up in the Asset Gallery as its own slot. Fill each slot however you like:

Images, icons & textures — generate options with AI, pick the one you love, or drop in your own file. Textures are made seamless automatically.
Sound effects — browse and tweak built-in sounds, or generate new ones.
Music — generate original background tracks of any length.

Whatever you choose is wired into your app for you — no exporting, renaming, or dragging files into the right folder. Game and pixel-art projects also come with a built-in retro foundation (a cohesive palette, pixel sprites, a bitmap font, and a chiptune player) so they look and sound the part from the very first build.

Characters & voices

For apps and games with spoken lines, the Dialog Manager keeps your characters, their lines, and the recorded audio in one place. Create a character, give it a voice, write its lines, and generate takes — a fast free voice for prototyping, or a production-quality voice when you're ready. Keep several takes per line and pick your favorite.

Bring your own AI

TransistorKit works with the AI accounts you already have, so you're in control of cost and quality:

Claude and Codex — for building. Use a subscription or pay-as-you-go.
Apple Intelligence and local models — run on your Mac, free and private.
Image & audio generators — optional keys for higher-quality art, sound effects, and music.

You can rank your preferred models, and if one runs out of credits TransistorKit can automatically continue on the next one — your build doesn't stall because a single account ran dry.

Signing & publishing

Apple (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac). TransistorKit reads the signing teams already set up on your Mac and lets you pick which one to use. If a project ever points at a team you've removed, it shows a banner with a one-click fix to re-stamp it.

Android. Projects build for the emulator out of the box. When you're ready to publish, add your release signing details — there's a ready-made spot for it.

Web & backend. No signing needed — web builds produce a ready-to-host bundle, and backends produce a deployable one.

TransistorKit also helps polish the parts stores care about, like generating clean App Store screenshots.

Deploying

Set up named destinations in Settings → Deploy — for example "prod" or "staging" — and then just tell the chat to deploy there. Destinations you mark as production ask for an explicit confirmation before anything risky runs, so you don't ship by accident.

Licence & devices

Subscription. $19.99/mo founders rate — sign up before the founders window closes and you keep that rate even after the price goes up.
One Mac per licence. Move your licence to a different Mac any time from Settings → Account.
Activation. Click the link in your welcome email on the Mac where TransistorKit is installed, or paste your licence key. Reinstalling or updating won't use up a slot.
Manage your subscription. Update your card, download invoices, pause, or cancel at transistorkit.com/account.
Lost your key? Get a new link at transistorkit.com/recover.

Settings

What you'll find in Settings:

Account — your licence, your devices, and subscription management.
Models — choose which AI runs the work, set a fallback order, and tune per-role preferences.
Assets Gen — your image, sound, and music generation keys, each with a Test button.
Remote — settings for previewing on your devices.
Deploy — your deploy destinations.
Prefs — general preferences like dictation language.
Appearance — pick a color theme.
Templates — manage the starter templates new projects are based on.

Settings save as you change them — there's no Apply button.

Troubleshooting

"Apple ID for team … isn't signed into Xcode"

Your project is set to a signing team that's no longer on your Mac. Open the project's settings and use the Re-stamp signing… button to pick a team you do have.

The first Android build is slow

The first Android build downloads its dependencies and takes a minute or two. After that, builds are quick.

Image, sound, or music generation fails

Make sure the matching key is set under Settings → Assets Gen, and that the account has credit. The built-in sound tools work without a key.

I deleted my project and lost everything

Your work lives in the project folder on your Mac, not inside TransistorKit — deleted folders can be restored from the Trash. To remove a project from the sidebar without deleting your files, use the project's settings → Remove from TransistorKit.

Support

Email collector@transistorkit.com — Casey reads every message. A short description of what you expected and what happened helps us help you fast.