Docs & setup

Get Sparse running in five minutes.

A quick walkthrough from account creation to your first agent run.

01

Create your Sparse account

Sign up on this site with your work email. This account lets the desktop client sync usage metadata and manage your devices.

02

Download the desktop client

Grab the installer for macOS, Windows or Linux from your downloads page. Sparse runs entirely on your machine.

03

Sign in from the client

Launch Sparse and sign in with the same email you used above. The client registers your device automatically.

04

Add your API key locally

Paste your Anthropic or OpenRouter API key into Sparse's settings. Keys are stored on your machine — never uploaded to our servers.

05

Open a project folder

Point Sparse at any local git repo. Sparse builds a lightweight repo map so it can pick the minimum context for each task.

06

Pick a token budget mode

Choose Cheap, Balanced, Deep or Full Context. Sparse fits context to the job — you always know what's being sent.

What Sparse never stores

  • Source code
  • Prompts or system messages
  • Terminal output or logs
  • Your API keys

Only token counts, model, mode, cost estimate and timestamps are synced back to your account.