Getting started with OpenCourse

OpenCourse is a Mac app for courses, PDFs and personal notebooks on any subject. Study offline, practise with a voice coach, create courses, or connect a learning server to continue enrolled reading in a browser.

Install#

Download OpenCourse from opencourse.dev. It runs on Macs with Apple silicon, on macOS 13 Ventura or later.
Open the disk image and drag OpenCourse to Applications.
Open it from Applications or Spotlight.

OpenCourse is not signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, so the first time you open it macOS says it cannot verify the app. Close that message, open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security, scroll to the note about OpenCourse and choose Open Anyway. You do this once for each version you download yourself; a version the app installs for you (below) opens without it.

The first time you open OpenCourse it asks for a name, so that several people can share one Mac with separate libraries and progress. Creating a local user does not create a server account or upload your library.

Keep it up to date#

OpenCourse can update itself. In Settings ▸ Updates, press Check for updates, or turn on Check for updates automatically - it is off until you do, and while it is off the app never contacts GitHub on its own. When a new version is available, an Update button appears at the top right of the window. Install and restart downloads it, checks that it is the release that was published, and restarts into it.

If you have unsaved edits to a course or a Coach session is live, the update waits until you have saved them or ended it.

Get a course#

The app ships no courses. You choose where yours come from.

From a catalog. A connected server lists published courses, such as those at catalog.opencourse.dev.

Open Settings (⌘,) and go to Servers ▸ Connect to a server….
Enter the address and sign in, or create an account right there.
In your library, open the Course catalog tab and add a course.

You need an account on that server to add a course; each operator decides whether registration is open. When the author publishes an update, you choose when to accept it. Progress is kept for lessons that still exist.

From a file. A course is a .zip archive. Choose Course ▸ Import Course… (⌘I) and pick it. To see every kind of block a course can contain, import the example course: Help ▸ Get the course format… saves it, with the format's documentation.

Learn#

A course is modules of lessons. Use the outline on the left, or Course ▸ Next Lesson (⌘]). Your place and progress are saved as you go.

Quizzes check your understanding and explain every answer, right or wrong.
Flashcards come back for review just before you would forget them. Review what is due from the course's page.
Visualizations are small interactive pages inside a lesson. Some open full screen.
Find in Course… (⌘F) searches every lesson.

Exercises#

Programming courses may include exercises that run your code and check it. Open editor on an exercise opens the workbench: the brief, an editor, a terminal, and Run checks. The exercise is complete when its checks pass.

Python exercises run on your Mac using Python bundled with OpenCourse. You do not need to install Python or the Xcode Command Line Tools. Each course gets its own local virtual environment; installing pytest and course packages may require internet access the first time. Update OpenCourse when a course needs a newer Python version.

Projects may use any language. Follow the project's instructions to install and configure the required tools yourself.

Read PDFs#

Open Documents in the titlebar to import a local PDF or browse a connected server's document catalog. The reader remembers your page and outline state. Use the outline or text search to navigate, and highlight a passage to choose Ask about this. Reading chat can retrieve pages and cite references you can open in the reader. Scanned pages without extractable text may need OCR before text search and AI reading can use them.

Personal notebooks#

The floating Notebooks button at the bottom-left opens your recent notebooks and searches notebook titles, page titles and page contents. Create a standalone notebook or one linked to the course or PDF you are viewing.

Each notebook opens in its own window with a page list and a live Markdown editor. Pages save automatically. Paste or drop PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF images; rename and reorder pages from the sidebar. Highlight text and choose Ask about this to chat about it. The conversation continues across pages, can read other pages and linked material, and never edits your notebook.

Personal notebooks belong to the selected local user and do not sync to a server. They are separate from Python notebooks, which run code in a course's Python environment. Hide the floating notebook button in Settings ▸ Appearance if you do not use it.

AI features#

Connect local AI in Settings ▸ Connections: add an OpenAI API key or choose Continue with ChatGPT. Provider charges and plan limits apply. The local credential is protected by your Mac's keychain.

Reading chat. Open Ask while reading a lesson or PDF, or highlight text and choose Ask about this. It retrieves relevant material while keeping course quiz answers and exercise solutions out of reading context.
Notebook chat. Ask about personal notebook pages and their linked course or PDF using your local AI connection. It has read-only access to your notes.
Course authoring. Ask the editor's assistant to draft or revise a course. Review the changes before saving.
Coach. Use the floating Coaches button above Notebooks, create or choose a coach, and start a spoken conversation. Coach asks for microphone access the first time. It can inspect your current lesson, PDF page, selection and open notebooks, including unsaved notebook edits, and search and read accessible material in your library and connected servers. Each coach maintains its own memory between conversations. You can rename or delete coaches in the launcher and hide it in Settings ▸ Appearance. Settings ▸ Coach sets the shared voice and background model choices used when any coach starts a conversation. The former Coach workspace, file browser and session-history screens have been removed; memory files are managed by the coach.

Reading chat for server content uses a separate OpenAI API key configured on that server. It never falls back to your local credentials. ChatGPT connections remain local. Coach and personal notebook chat use your local connection, including when they read accessible linked or server material. AI sends the material needed for a response to OpenAI and requires internet access.

Learn on the web#

Sign in to a connected server's website and open My learning to continue an enrolled course or PDF. The browser supports reading, quizzes, flashcards and reading chat. Enrolled progress and reading conversations synchronize between desktop and web; downloaded content remains available on your Mac.

Exercises, projects, Python notebooks, personal notebooks, course authoring and Coach use the desktop app. Local imports, Coach memory, personal notebooks and authoring conversations are not uploaded as part of learning sync.

Write a course#

Course ▸ Create Course… (⌘N) opens the editor: modules, lessons, quizzes, exercises and flashcards, with a live preview. Nothing is written to disk until you choose Course ▸ Save Course (⌘S), including changes made by the AI authoring assistant. Export ZIP… gives you an archive you can share.

Courses can also be written by hand, or generated by your own tools. The course format describes every field.

Connect to a catalog server and sign in, then publish from the course's editor with Publish to a server. Each later version you publish reaches learners as an update that keeps their progress. You can roll back, unlist or remove a course from the server's publication management pages. PDFs can also be published from Documents. Unpublishing hides content from the catalog while existing enrolled learners keep access; deletion and moderation are separate actions.

To run a catalog for your class, team or community, see hosting a catalog.

Make it yours#

View ▸ Theme changes how the app looks: colours, fonts and pictures. Install themes from Settings, or make your own with the theme format.

Where your data lives#

Everything OpenCourse keeps is in ~/Library/Application Support/opencourse/, with separate data per local user: courses, PDFs, progress, personal notebooks, Coach memory, chats and settings. Back up this folder to protect local data; local AI credentials also rely on the macOS keychain. Enrolled learning data is synchronized with its server, whose operator manages its own backups.