First-run setup.

1. Launch Rabbit IDE

After installation, open Rabbit IDE from your Applications folder (macOS), start menu (Windows), or run rabbit-ide from a terminal (Linux). Your existing VS Code settings, keybindings, and extensions are imported automatically on first launch.

2. Choose your model provider

Open the Model Picker (Cmd+Shift+M / Ctrl+Shift+M) and select a provider:

• Local (Ollama) -- free, private, zero-latency. See the Local Models guide.
• Cloud (Anthropic / OpenAI / Google / etc.) -- bring your own API key.
• Hybrid -- route cheap steps locally, hard steps to the cloud.

3. Open a project

File > Open Folder or rabbit-ide . from the terminal. Rabbit scans the workspace for .rabbitrules,.cursorrules, .devin/ config, andAGENTS.md, loading them into the agent system prompt.

4. Start a chat

Press Cmd+L (macOS) or Ctrl+L to open the Burrow chat panel. Type a task and let the agent work. You can monitor token usage in the status bar and review every file edit before accepting.

5. Configure routing (optional)

Create .rabbit-ide/routing.yml in your project root to define per-step model routing, fallback chains, and daily budget caps. See the Hybrid Routing guide for details.