Desktop AI productivity studio

How to use
Cherry Studio.

Managing multiple model providers from one desktop app, comparing assistants, working with a local knowledge base, and extending personal workflows with carefully reviewed agents and MCP tools.

Open Cherry Studio ↗ Official download ↗
What it isDesktop AI productivity workspace for multi-provider chat, assistants, knowledge bases, agents, web search, image generation, MCP, and local data management Workflows2 UpdatedSeptember 2026

Cherry Studio is a Desktop AI productivity workspace for multi-provider chat, assistants, knowledge bases, agents, web search, image generation, MCP, and local data management. Managing multiple model providers from one desktop app, comparing assistants, working with a local knowledge base, and extending personal workflows with carefully reviewed agents and MCP tools. This guide covers the whole path in one place: official access, a first session that produces something reviewable, the checks that make output trustworthy, and the permissions worth limiting before you connect real work.

Troiana principle

AI should make the work easier to inspect. If the workflow removes the source, the owner, or the review step, redesign the workflow.

01

Access & setup

Find, install, and sign in to Cherry Studio

Get into the official Cherry Studio experience with the right account and a setup you understand.

  1. 01

    Start at https://www.cherry-ai.com/ and confirm the domain before entering account or payment information.

  2. 02

    Availability: Cherry Studio provides signed desktop releases for current Windows, macOS, and Linux systems, plus related mobile development; official release assets include platform-specific installers and hashes.

  3. 03

    A supported operating system, an official verified installer, provider API keys or local endpoints, enough storage for conversations and knowledge bases, a backup location, and explicit permissions for files, search, agents, skills, and MCP tools.

  4. 04

    Sign in with the account you intend to keep using, then review plan, data, notification, and permission settings.

  5. 05

    Run one low-risk test task before connecting sensitive files, repositories, or workspace data.

  • Use official download pages.
  • Review permissions during setup.
  • Keep installers and applications updated.
02

First session

Your first useful Cherry Studio session

Learn the interaction loop using a small task with a clear outcome.

  1. 01

    Download a current official release, verify the asset and hash where supplied, back up existing data before upgrades, and review operating-system and license requirements.

  2. 02

    Add one provider with a dedicated low-privilege key or a local endpoint, keep the official base URL, fetch and allowlist only required models, and enable the provider after a connectivity test.

  3. 03

    Create a narrowly instructed assistant and run a non-sensitive benchmark for output quality, provider routing, context, file handling, search, latency, errors, and token cost.

  4. 04

    Review the selected provider's privacy terms and data path, configure encrypted backups, then add knowledge, skills, agents, or MCP only after separate permission and supply-chain review.

  • State the outcome before the background.
  • Provide the real source material.
  • Review the result before expanding the task.
03

Quality control

Check the quality of Cherry Studio output

Turn a plausible draft into work you are willing to stand behind.

  1. 01

    Restate the original outcome and acceptance criteria before reviewing the response.

  2. 02

    Mark every factual claim, calculation, quotation, or figure that could materially affect the result.

  3. 03

    Check those items against the original source, a primary reference, or direct inspection.

  4. 04

    Ask the tool to list its assumptions and uncertainty, but never rely on self-review as the only check.

  5. 05

    Complete a human edit for relevance, tone, privacy, accessibility, and the exact delivery format.

  • Verify consequential claims independently.
  • Fluency is not accuracy; confident phrasing is not evidence.
  • Keep a record of sources and review decisions.
04

Privacy & permissions

Use Cherry Studio safely

Use the platform productively without giving it unnecessary access or authority.

  1. 01

    Classify the task and its data before uploading or connecting anything.

  2. 02

    Review the product, account, organisation, retention, and training settings that apply to you.

  3. 03

    Grant the narrowest file, workspace, microphone, screen, or integration permissions needed.

  4. 04

    Remove secrets and personal or regulated information unless your approved policy explicitly permits it.

  5. 05

    Review the output and revoke permissions or disconnect sources that are no longer needed.

  • Cherry Studio stores local workspace data and keys but sends prompts and selected content to configured providers and may call search, embedding, backup, MCP, agent, or mini-app services. Local storage is not automatic encryption or backup. Use official builds, dedicated keys, approved endpoints, device encryption, narrow filesystem roots, reviewed MCP packages and skills, human approval for actions, and tested encrypted backups before upgrades.
  • Follow your organisation's approved-use policy.
  • Never treat fluent output as authorization to act.
05

Core workflows

Step-by-step ways to use Cherry Studio for the work it does best.

Each workflow below has its own outcome, steps and review checkpoints.

01 WorkflowCreate a private multi-provider Cherry Studio workspace

Configure models, local records, device security, provider data paths, key scope, and backups before using sensitive work.

 02 WorkflowAdd Cherry Studio knowledge and MCP safely

Treat local documents, embedding calls, MCP packages, filesystem roots, memory, and tool approvals as separate trust boundaries.

Workflow 01

Create a private multi-provider Cherry Studio workspace

Configure models, local records, device security, provider data paths, key scope, and backups before using sensitive work.

Outcome: Compare and use models without exposing credentials, confusing provider privacy boundaries, or losing the local workspace.

  1. 01

    Install a verified official release, enable operating-system encryption and account lock, update the system, and create an encrypted backup before importing any existing workspace.

  2. 02

    Choose approved providers, review their retention and training terms, create dedicated low-privilege keys, retain official endpoints, and allowlist only evaluated chat and embedding models.

  3. 03

    Build one assistant with narrow instructions, disable unneeded search and tools, and run a frozen non-sensitive benchmark for quality, routing, context, errors, latency, and cost.

  4. 04

    Classify conversations and files before use, confirm exactly which provider receives each request, and avoid shared-device profiles, screenshots, logs, clipboard leaks, and unapproved cloud backups.

  5. 05

    Configure an encrypted WebDAV or S3-compatible backup if needed, test restore on a separate profile, rotate keys, review telemetry settings, and repeat backup before every upgrade.

What good use looks like

  • Use dedicated provider keys.
  • Know every request's remote destination.
  • Test encrypted backup and restore.

Workflow 02

Add Cherry Studio knowledge and MCP safely

Treat local documents, embedding calls, MCP packages, filesystem roots, memory, and tool approvals as separate trust boundaries.

Outcome: Gain retrieval and tool use without granting arbitrary packages or models access to the device and private files.

  1. 01

    Define approved files, embedding provider, knowledge scope, MCP use case, package source, filesystem and network permissions, secrets, side effects, approvals, retention, and removal plan.

  2. 02

    Create a minimal knowledge base from copies of approved documents, remove secrets and metadata, record owner and expiry, and verify whether embedding stays local or is sent remotely.

  3. 03

    Review each MCP package, version and dependency, prefer built-ins or pinned trusted sources, set the smallest workspace root and environment variables, and deny shell or broad filesystem access.

  4. 04

    Require interactive approval, inspect every proposed tool and argument, and test prompt injection, path traversal, symlinks, data exfiltration, untrusted URLs, malicious documents, duplicate actions, and denial.

  5. 05

    Use call-chain traces to audit models, retrieval and tools, revoke exposed keys, update only after review, and remove obsolete MCP binaries, memory files, knowledge indexes, caches, and backups.

What good use looks like

  • Use the smallest filesystem root.
  • Pin and inspect MCP packages.
  • Approve every consequential tool call.
06

Official references

Check the current product documentation.

Features, plan limits, availability, and data controls change. These official pages are the starting points used for this guide.

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