This guide walks you through everything from “I just heard about Lucy” to “Lucy spoke a sentence in my chosen voice.” If you can build an IKEA shelf or a 3D-printer kit, you can do this. Plan on about 15 minutes the first time.

Heads up. Lucy needs a Fish Audio account, which costs money to use (a few cents per long sentence). You don’t pay us. Top up about $5 at Fish to test comfortably.

What you’ll need

Item	Notes
A Mac (macOS 13+) or iPhone (iOS 16+)	You can install Lucy on both later. Start with whichever you’ll use first.
A Fish Audio account	Free to create. https://fish.audio
About $5 of Fish Audio credit	This is for Fish, not for us. You’ll add this on Fish’s website.
15 minutes
An email you can check	Required for both Fish signup and Apple’s TestFlight invite.

You do not need:

• A developer account, Xcode, the terminal, or any code knowledge.
• A credit card on file with us (we don’t have a payment system).
• A subscription to anything Lucy-related.

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Step 1 — Create your Fish Audio account

1. Open https://fish.audio in a web browser.
2. Click Sign up in the top right.
3. Use the email and password method (the simplest), or sign in with Google.
4. Verify your email if Fish asks you to.

Screenshot placeholder: Fish Audio signup page with the Sign up button circled.

What you should see now: You’re logged into the Fish Audio dashboard.

If something’s off: If Fish’s site is slow or down, try again in a few minutes. Fish is a separate company; if their service is having an outage, Lucy can’t synthesize voices until they recover.

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Step 2 — Add a little credit

Lucy doesn’t include any free Fish usage. You pay Fish directly for what you use.

1. In the Fish dashboard, click Billing (or Pricing, depending on Fish’s current layout).
2. Add about $5 of credit to start. This will be plenty for several days of testing.
3. Optional but recommended: turn on a low-balance email alert in Fish so you know before you run out.

Screenshot placeholder: Fish Audio billing page.

What you should see now: A positive credit balance on your Fish dashboard.

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Step 3 — Generate an API key

An API key is just a long string of letters and numbers that proves Lucy is allowed to use your Fish account.

1. In the Fish dashboard, look for API keys (sometimes under Developer, sometimes under Settings).
2. Click Create API key (or similar). Give it a name like Lucy on iPhone so you remember.
3. Copy the whole key. This is the only time Fish will show it to you in full. If you lose it, you’ll need to create a new one.
4. Treat this key like a password. Don’t share it, screenshot it, or email it. Lucy will store it in your device’s secure Keychain, not on any server.

Screenshot placeholder: Fish Audio API keys page with the “Create API key” button circled.

What you should see now: A long string copied to your clipboard. You haven’t done anything with it yet — that’s fine.

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Step 4 — Install Lucy

On iPhone (via TestFlight)

1. Request a TestFlight invite by emailing lucychapar@pm.me with the subject “TestFlight invite”. Include the email address tied to your Apple ID.
2. You’ll get an email from Apple’s TestFlight system.
3. Install Apple’s free TestFlight app from the App Store if you don’t already have it.
4. Open the TestFlight email on your iPhone and tap View in TestFlight.
5. Tap Install.

Screenshot placeholder: TestFlight invite email and TestFlight install screen.

What you should see now: A new app icon on your home screen named Lucy.

If something’s off: TestFlight builds expire every 90 days. If Lucy says the build is expired, email lucychapar@pm.me and we’ll send a new invite.

On Mac (direct download)

Coming soon. The macOS build is currently shared on a per-tester basis. Email lucychapar@pm.me and we’ll send you a signed download link.

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Step 5 — Paste your key into Lucy

1. Open Lucy. The first screen asks for your Fish Audio API key.
2. Paste the key you copied in Step 3.
3. Tap Test connection. Lucy will send a tiny test sentence to Fish to confirm the key works. This costs about a cent.
4. If the test succeeds, tap Save and continue. Lucy stores the key in your device’s Keychain (not on any server).

Screenshot placeholder: Lucy’s first-run key entry screen.

What you should see now: Lucy’s main screen — a text input, a Speak button, and a queue area.

If “Test connection” failed:

• Most common: a typo or extra space. Re-copy the key from Fish and try again.
• Less common: your Fish account has no credit. Top up in the Fish dashboard.
• Rare: Fish is having an outage. Wait a few minutes and retry.

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Step 6 — Pick a voice and say hello

1. Open Settings → Voices in Lucy.
2. Lucy ships with a default voice. To change it, browse Fish’s catalog and paste any voice’s reference ID into a new voice preset.
3. Back on the main screen, type “Hello, this is my new voice.” and press Enter.
4. The first time, you’ll hear a brief silence while Lucy generates the audio. Then playback starts.

What you should see and hear now: Your typed sentence, spoken out loud in the selected voice.

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You’re done. Now what?

• Read the troubleshooting page so you know what to do when something acts up.
• Skim the privacy page so you know exactly what’s leaving your device.
• Send feedback. Bugs and feature requests go on GitHub Issues; please tag with bug or feature request. Security or private matters go to lucychapar@pm.me.
• Keep your Fish account balance modest. A Lucy-side daily character cap is planned but not built yet, so for now your strongest guardrail against surprise bills is the balance you choose to top up on Fish.

Welcome to the beta. Thank you for testing.