Setup guide

Set up 37Studio

About 30 minutes, most of it waiting for downloads. Follow the steps for your computer. If anything looks different from what's described here, ask on GitHub.

Before you start

A computerWindows 10 (22H2) or 11, a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1–M4) or Intel, or a 64-bit Linux.
Memory and disk16 GB RAM recommended, and at least 20 GB free disk for the app and your footage.
Nothing to buy37Studio is free and open source. You pay the AI providers only for what you use.
ClaudeA Claude Pro or Max plan, or an Anthropic API key. Gemini and ElevenLabs keys are optional.
Running it on a server instead? For a team, or for replies and Autopilot around the clock, 37Studio also runs on a Linux server (16 GB RAM and 4 vCPUs recommended) behind HTTPS and a password. The cloud guide on GitHub sets it up with one compose file; from step 4 on, everything here is the same.

Pick your computer once; the steps below follow it.

1. Install Docker Desktop

37Studio runs inside Docker, which keeps the app and all its tools (Claude Code, the video renderer, ffmpeg, fonts) in one sealed box. Docker Desktop is free for personal use and for businesses with fewer than 250 employees and under $10 million in revenue.

  1. Download Docker Desktop for Windows from docker.com.
  2. Run the installer and keep Use WSL 2 ticked. Restart the computer when it asks.
  3. Open Docker Desktop, accept the terms, and skip the sign-in. Wait until the bottom-left corner says Engine running.
If Docker says WSL needs updating, open PowerShell and run wsl --update, then open Docker Desktop again. If it says virtualization is off, restart into your BIOS (usually F2, F10 or Del at start-up) and turn on Intel VT-x or AMD SVM.

2. Download 37Studio

  1. Download 37studio.zip. It's small; the app itself downloads on the first start.
  2. Make a folder that will be 37Studio's home, for example Documents/37Studio, and unzip everything into it.
Keep this folder. 37Studio creates a data folder inside it with your companies, footage, videos, messages and settings. Moving to a new computer later is copying this folder.

3. Start it

  1. Double-click start.bat.
  2. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway. It only asks the first time.
  3. A window shows "Checking for updates…". The first start downloads about 3 GB, so give it a few minutes. Later starts take seconds.
  4. 37Studio opens in its own Edge window at http://localhost:8080. To keep it on the taskbar: Edge menu → Apps → Install this site as an app.

37Studio only accepts connections from your own computer. Nobody else on your Wi-Fi can open it.

4. Add your AI keys

Open Settings in the sidebar, choose one of the Claude options below and paste it under Keys.

Option A: your Claude Pro or Max plan

Already signed in to Claude Desktop or claude.ai? That sign-in can't be shared with 37Studio, but the same account works here. Open a terminal in the 37Studio folder (Windows 11: right-click inside the folder → Open in Terminal; Windows 10: Shift + right-click → Open PowerShell window here; Mac: right-click the folder → New Terminal at Folder) and run:

docker compose exec studio claude setup-token

It shows a link. Open it, sign in to Claude, and paste the code back into the terminal. It prints a token starting with sk-ant-oat: paste that into Settings → Keys → Claude subscription token. If Claude Code is already installed on your computer, claude setup-token there gives the same token.

Anthropic's terms apply to using a Claude subscription in other apps. An API key (option B) is the fully supported route.

Option B: an Anthropic API key

At console.anthropic.com, add credit under Billing, create a key under API keys, and paste it into Settings → Keys → Anthropic API key. You pay Anthropic for what you use, and every project shows its cost.

Optional: OpenCode for cheaper routine edits

docker compose exec studio opencode auth login

Then pick DeepSeek in a project's quality menu for small changes.

Optional: Gemini and ElevenLabs

  • Gemini (generated images and video clips): get a key at aistudio.google.com.
  • ElevenLabs (voiceover, sound effects, music): elevenlabs.io → Developers → API keys. Then pick a voice in Settings → Voice.

These have to be API keys. A Google AI Pro, Runway or Kling subscription doesn't include API access; make clips on their site and upload them to a project instead.

Keys are encrypted on your computer and only ever sent to the provider they belong to.

5. Add your first company

  1. Companies → Add from website, paste the company's website and click Scan website.
  2. In 5–10 minutes 37Studio collects the logo, colours, fonts and photos, and writes the knowledge base. The page updates by itself.
  3. Read the Knowledge tab and correct anything wrong: prices, offers, phone numbers. Every video and reply uses it.
  4. Click New project, answer the questions, and the agent starts. You can watch it work and ask for changes in the chat.

6. Connect social accounts

Every platform, step by step in plain words, is on Connect your social accounts, with a copy you can paste into ChatGPT or Claude so it walks you through.

Each company's Social tab has a Connect button for every platform: Facebook & Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest, Bluesky and Mastodon. You sign in once on the platform's own page, then tick the accounts that belong to this company.

Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram connect through a free Meta app of your own, made once in about 15 minutes. On the company's Social tab, click Set up your Meta app (or Connect Facebook & Instagram, which opens the same steps until it's set up):

  1. At developers.facebook.com/apps, click Create app. Pick the use cases Manage everything on your Page and Manage messaging & content on Instagram, plus Engage with customers on Messenger for the Inbox. Connect your business portfolio; it doesn't need to be verified.
  2. In each use case, click Customize and add pages_show_list, pages_read_engagement, pages_manage_posts, business_management, instagram_basic and instagram_content_publish. For the Inbox, also add pages_read_user_content, pages_manage_engagement, pages_manage_metadata, pages_messaging, instagram_manage_comments and instagram_manage_messages.
  3. Facebook Login for Business → Configurations → Create: User access token, your Pages and Instagram accounts, the same permissions. Copy its ID; Instagram video uploads need it.
  4. App settings → Basic: copy the App ID and App secret. If Meta asks for a redirect URI, use http://localhost:8080/api/oauth/meta/callback.
  5. Leave the app in Development mode. Anyone else who connects Pages needs a role under App roles.
  6. Paste the App ID, App secret and Login configuration ID into 37Studio and save. They're encrypted on your computer.
  7. Click Connect Facebook & Instagram, sign in with a Facebook account that manages the company's Pages, and tick the Pages and Instagram accounts that belong to this company. Instagram must be a Business or Creator account linked to the Page.
  8. For the Inbox to read Instagram messages: in the Instagram app, Settings → Messages and story replies → Connected tools → Allow access to messages.
You're the admin of your own app, so your Pages and Instagram work straight away for posting and comments. Messenger and Instagram messages from customers appear once Meta approves your app for those permissions in App Review; until then you see messages from people with a role on the app or the Page.

YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, X and Pinterest

Each of these needs a free developer app of your own, made once on the platform's developer site:

  1. Create the app and add 37Studio's return address to it: http://localhost:8080/api/oauth/name/callback, where name is google for YouTube, or tiktok, linkedin, x or pinterest. X refuses localhost, so its address is http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/oauth/x/callback.
  2. Paste the app's ID and secret into Settings → Keys. They're encrypted on your computer.
  3. On the company's Social tab, click Connect for that platform. For Pinterest, then tick the boards to post to.

The platform guide lists exactly which products, permissions and settings each developer site needs. Until a platform reviews your app, it limits what the app can do: YouTube keeps uploads private, TikTok posts only privately or to the creator's drafts, LinkedIn posts to your own profile (company Pages need LinkedIn's approval), and new Pinterest apps work in Pinterest's sandbox.

Bluesky and Mastodon

  • Bluesky: in Bluesky, open Settings → Privacy and security → App passwords and make one. Then click Connect Bluesky and enter your handle and that app password.
  • Mastodon: on your server, open Preferences → Development → New application with the scopes read:accounts, write:media and write:statuses. Then click Connect Mastodon and enter the server's address and the application's access token.

Not possible: Threads only accepts videos from a public web address, which an app on your computer doesn't have; Meta removed posting to Facebook Groups and personal profiles; Reddit and Snapchat have no usable API for posting videos.

WhatsApp is in beta and needs a number on the WhatsApp Business API. Meta delivers WhatsApp messages only to a public web address, so you give 37Studio one with a free Cloudflare Tunnel that opens only the webhook path. The connect guide walks through it.

7. Choose how replies go out

On the same Social tab, under Inbox replies:

  • Off: you reply yourself in the Inbox, with a Draft with AI button.
  • Claude drafts, you approve: drafts wait in the Inbox marked "Draft ready". One click sends. Recommended.
  • Claude replies on its own: for when you trust it.

Write the company's rules in How Claude should reply: sign-off, language, what never to promise, when to hand over to a person.

8. Keep it running

Autopilot and auto-replies work while 37Studio runs. Anything that arrives while the computer is off is picked up when it's back.

  • Docker Desktop → Settings → General → Start Docker Desktop when you sign in. 37Studio then starts by itself.
  • To answer messages at night: Settings → System → Power → When plugged in, put my device to sleep after: Never.
  • Or run it on a server, which never sleeps: see the cloud guide.

Updates and backups

  • Updates: every start checks for a new version and installs it. The sidebar also says when one is out; run the start file again to get it.
  • Backups: copy the data folder somewhere safe now and then.
  • New computer: set up Docker there, copy the whole 37Studio folder across, and run the start file.
  • Uninstall: Docker Desktop → Containers → delete 37studio, then delete the folder. Deleting the folder deletes your data.

Troubleshooting

"Docker Desktop did not start"

Open Docker Desktop yourself and wait for Engine running; the first start after a reboot can take a couple of minutes. Then run the start file again.

The page doesn't open, or port 8080 is in use

Another program is using port 8080. Close it and run the start file again.

Videos render slowly on a Mac

Give Docker more memory and CPU under Settings → Resources, and close heavy apps while rendering.

The agent says there's no Claude key

Add one under Settings → Keys (step 4). If you use a subscription token and it stopped working, make a new one with claude setup-token.

Connect says a platform "is not configured"

Its app ID and secret aren't in Settings → Keys yet (step 6).

A platform says the return address doesn't match

The address in the platform's developer app must be exactly http://localhost:8080/api/oauth/name/callback (for X, http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/oauth/x/callback), with no slash at the end. On a server it starts with your own https:// domain instead.

Facebook sign-in fails

Sign in with a Facebook profile that is an admin of your own Meta app or has a role on it under App roles (step 6). The profile must also manage the Page.

Stuck? Search or open an issue on GitHub. If you'd rather have it set up for you over a screen share, message us on WhatsApp or email jahangir@shaitrish.com.