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Install atbridge.ai

In short: add the atbridge.ai add-on to Thunderbird, and a setup wizard opens and does the rest. About five minutes — and on macOS and Windows you never have to open a terminal.

Step-by-step install guides are live — pick your OS and follow along:

🍎 macOS Install & setup guide
🪟 Windows Install & setup guide
🐧 Linux Install & setup guide

What you need before you start

Section titled “What you need before you start”
  • Thunderbird 128 or newer. Check via Help → About Thunderbird. Download Thunderbird if you don’t have it yet.
  • At least one mail account configured in Thunderbird, with “Keep messages for this account on this computer” enabled. Most people already have this on by default.

1. Add the add-on to Thunderbird

Section titled “1. Add the add-on to Thunderbird”

Download the add-on from the download page, then in Thunderbird:

  1. Open Settings (the ☰ menu → Settings).

  2. Go to Add-ons and Themes.

  3. Open the gear menu at the top right and choose Install Add-on From File…

  4. Pick the .xpi file you downloaded.

  5. Click Add when Thunderbird asks.

Installing the atbridge.ai add-on in Thunderbird from a file: open Settings, click Add-ons and Themes, open the Add-ons Manager gear menu, choose Install Add-on From File, pick the .xpi from Downloads, click Add — the extension is enabled and the @b button appears.

2. Follow the setup wizard

Section titled “2. Follow the setup wizard”

As soon as the add-on loads, the atbridge.ai setup wizard opens by itself. It walks you through everything below — you can press Skip for now on any step you would rather do later.

Step 1 — Install the atbridge.ai core

Section titled “Step 1 — Install the atbridge.ai core”

This is the only step that differs by operating system.

Click Install atbridge.ai core. It downloads and runs the signed installer for you; the wizard shows Waiting for atbridge.ai core… and moves on by itself when it lands.

If it doesn’t finish, click I’ve installed it — check now.

Prefer to run it yourself?
Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://atbridge.ai/install.sh | sh

Step 2 — Activate

Section titled “Step 2 — Activate”

Enter your name and email and click Send code, then Start trial once the code arrives. Already bought a plan? Use Detect & activate, or open Have a license key? and paste it in.

Step 3 — How you’ll use it

Section titled “Step 3 — How you’ll use it”

Pick Inside Thunderbird, From an external AI app (MCP), or both. Choose at least one to continue.

Step 4 — Connect your AI

Section titled “Step 4 — Connect your AI”

Choose a provider, paste your API key, and click Connect. If you picked the MCP route in step 3, you get a list of apps to set up instead.

Step 5 — Preferences

Section titled “Step 5 — Preferences”

Response language, your atbridge Notes folder, web search, and region. All optional.

Step 6 — Permissions

Section titled “Step 6 — Permissions”

Review what atbridge.ai may do with your mailboxes, calendars and contacts. You can change any of it later in Settings.

Step 7 — Done

Section titled “Step 7 — Done”

Click Close Wizard. The @b button appears in Thunderbird’s toolbar.

3. Check it worked

Section titled “3. Check it worked”

Open the @b button in Thunderbird — the AI Chat pane should open and your plan should show as active.

Prefer to check from a terminal?
Terminal window
atbridge license status --pretty

Next: connect your AI

Section titled “Next: connect your AI”

You’re installed. Now hook up your AI assistant →

Stuck?

Section titled “Stuck?”

If something broke at any of the steps above and the error message didn’t point at a clear fix, drop a note here. It goes straight to a human — we read every one.

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