Getting started

1. Choose a supported product

• ApplyAIs Studio: Windows 11 x64. Choose the per-user installer unless your organisation requires an administrator-managed system installation.
• ApplyAIs extension for Visual Studio Code: local Windows or Linux extension hosts. Install only from the official Visual Studio Marketplace listing when it becomes available.

macOS, Remote SSH, WSL, dev containers, browser/virtual workspaces and other remote extension hosts are not supported for v1. Do not install an unsigned Studio package or a VSIX obtained from an unofficial link.

2. Standalone extension prerequisites

Studio includes the ApplyAIs application components it needs. The standalone extension currently uses a local Python/Pandoc backend. Before importing a document, install a supported Python 3 interpreter, the Python packages python-docx, lxml and Markdown, and Pandoc. The extension checks these prerequisites and reports the missing item. On Windows you may need to select the py launcher in ApplyAIs settings; on Linux the usual command is python3.

3. Create an account and obtain a licence token

1. Choose the plan and currency shown on the ApplyAIs website. Review the live price, trial, payment-method, renewal, cancellation and tax terms in Stripe Checkout before confirming.
2. Sign in using the one-time email link. A sign-in link is short-lived and can be used once; never forward it.
3. Open Access token in the portal and copy the short-lived ApplyAIs licence token.
4. Run ApplyAIs: Enter License Token in Studio or Visual Studio Code. The token is stored in the host's secret storage. Do not put it in a project, source control, screenshot or support message.

If a seat or subscription is no longer eligible, server access stops immediately and the local token will be rejected or expire. Retrieve a new token after an authorised owner/admin restores eligibility.

4. Create a project

1. Keep an unchanged backup of the source DOCX.
2. Run ApplyAIs: Create Project From DOCX, or choose a verified published grant template.
3. Select a new local project folder. ApplyAIs extracts recognised questions and guidance into Markdown files and keeps project metadata in .applyaisproject.
4. Open the ApplyAIs dashboard and verify the question list, guidance, word limits and any supported comments before editing.

If extraction reports a missing dependency or Pandoc failure, the project is incomplete. Correct the named prerequisite and run the import again; do not treat a partial Markdown file as a successful export.

5. Reuse organisation information safely

Owners/admins can maintain reusable organisation metadata and portable path templates in the portal. Each user maps those templates to a local root on their own Windows or Linux computer. When a project snapshot is created, ApplyAIs resolves and copies approved files locally, checks containment and size limits, and records deterministic hashes. Resolved machine paths and document bytes are not sent to ApplyAIs by this workflow.

Review every snapshot before sharing a project. A project copy contains the snapshot files, so anybody who receives the project may receive that information even though ApplyAIs did not upload it.

6. Edit in Markdown and use external assistants

Edit only inside the answer markers in each question file and preserve the generated marker structure and question IDs. The generated AGENTS.md explains these boundaries to compatible external tools. ApplyAIs v1 does not include a first-party AI agent and does not control what a separate assistant, extension, cloud drive or source-control service sends to its provider. Review that provider's privacy and workspace permissions before granting access to confidential material.

ApplyAIs keeps bounded local answer snapshots. They are not Git history and do not provide real-time collaboration or automatic merging. If an external tool damages formatting, restore a recent snapshot or the unchanged source and reapply reviewed answer text.

7. Export and inspect the DOCX

1. Choose normal replacement or tracked-change export as appropriate.
2. Export to a new filename until you have manually approved the result.
3. Open the result in Microsoft Word and inspect every answer, word limit, list, table, tracked change and comment against the source and Markdown files.
4. Keep the source DOCX and project until the submitted document has been independently checked.

DOCX files vary. ApplyAIs preserves supported structures; it does not promise that every unusual Word feature can round-trip without review.

8. Updates, recovery and uninstall

Studio normally downloads and stages a signed update in the background, then asks you to restart. Save important work before restarting. A system installation may request Windows administrator approval only when applying the installer. Portable builds notify you but require a manual replacement. If automatic update is unavailable, use the verified download link on this website and install over the existing version; your user profile should remain, but keep independent project backups.

You can use Help: Collect ApplyAIs Support Diagnostics to collect product versions, update channel and non-secret logs. Review the report before sending it. It excludes licence tokens and document content by design.

Uninstalling Studio or the extension does not cancel a subscription and does not necessarily remove local projects or host user data. Cancel billing through the portal and remove local data separately if required.

Need help?

See ApplyAIs support. Do not send licence tokens, one-time links, passwords, payment-card data or confidential grant content.