Rescale Desktop app

The Rescale Desktop app runs on your own computer and connects it to your Rescale platform. Use it to move files between your computer and Rescale, keep track of your jobs, and work with Rescale Edison without opening a browser.

Highlights

• Move files in both directions. Upload files and folders from your computer or a network drive, and download job outputs and files from Rescale. Every transfer shows its progress in one list.
• Monitor your jobs. See which jobs are running and which have finished, and open any of them on the platform.
• Work with Rescale Edison. Get AI-assisted insights the same way you do on the Rescale platform. Ask about your jobs and software, attach files from your computer, or have Edison find a file in a folder you allow and upload it. Edison asks before every transfer.
• Use more than one workspace. Each workspace connects to one platform with one API key, and keeps its own chats, history, and settings.
• Automatic updates. The app downloads new versions in the background and asks you to restart when one is ready.

The Rescale Desktop app, with a chat open and your recent chats in the left rail.

Before you start

You need:

• A supported computer.
  • macOS on Apple silicon. There is no build for Intel Macs today.
  • Windows x64. It needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which current versions of Windows 10 and 11 include.
  • Linux x64. There are two builds: Linux (GTK3) for RHEL, Rocky, and Alma Linux 8–9, Ubuntu 22.04, and Debian 12; and Linux (GTK4) for Ubuntu 24.04 and later, Debian 13, Fedora 40 and later, and RHEL 10. Install your distribution's WebKitGTK package first.
• A Rescale API key. Create one from Preferences > API → Add API Key. See Get an API key.
• Advanced Modeling & Simulation or Agentic Engineering, to chat with Edison. On HPC Foundations, you can use Files, Jobs, and Activity, but Work with Edison doesn't appear. Your administrator manages your workspace's plan. Chat with Edison isn't available on Rescale ITAR yet.

Install the app

The installer is on the same page as your API keys.

1. On your Rescale platform, open Preferences > API.
2. In the Rescale Desktop section, click the tab for your operating system (Windows, Linux, or macOS), then click the download button, such as Download macOS (Apple Silicon). The section shows the latest version and its release date.
3. Install it:
   • macOS: Open the .dmg and, in Finder, drag Rescale Desktop into Applications. Always open it from Applications. If you run it from the disk image or your Downloads folder, it can't update itself.
   • Windows: Unzip the download into a folder you can write to, such as one inside your user folder, and run RescaleDesktop.exe. Avoid C:\Program Files unless you have administrator rights, because the app can't update itself in a folder it can't write to.
   • Linux: Run the install script shown on the download page. It picks the right build for your distribution, checks it, and installs it in ~/.local/bin with an entry in your applications menu. You don't need root. You can also download a .tar.gz yourself, extract it, and run the binary. The Linux builds aren't signed, so check your download against the SHA256SUMS.txt file published with it.

The Rescale Desktop section on Preferences > API, with a tab for each operating system.

Connect to your platform

The first time you open the app, Set up Rescale Desktop walks you through four steps: Welcome, What it does, Connect, and Allowed folder. Use Continue and Back to move between them.

1. Click Continue until you reach Connect to Rescale.
2. In Platform, select the platform your organization uses: Rescale (commercial), Rescale (EU), Rescale (KR), Rescale (JP), or Rescale ITAR. If you're not sure which one, see platform regions.
3. Paste your key into API key and click Connect. If you don't have a key yet, click Get your API key from your platform.
4. Wait for You are connected, then click Continue. The app checks the key with your platform and stores it in your operating system's keychain.
5. Optional: on Allow your first folder, click Browse, pick a folder, give it a name, and click Allow folder. You can skip this and add folders later.
6. Click Start using Rescale Desktop.

The app names the workspace after the Rescale workspace your key belongs to.

The Connect step after the app checks your key, showing You are connected.

Find your way around

The left rail has everything you need:

• Work with Edison starts a new chat.
• Files moves files between your computer and Rescale.
• Jobs lists your jobs.
• Activity shows your transfers and the app's logs.
• Chats lists your recent chats, grouped by Today, Yesterday, and Previous Chats.
• Click your email at the bottom of the rail to open Settings or Permissions.

Click Show context panel on the right edge to see your current workspace, your allowed folders, and any active transfers.

Move files between your computer and Rescale

Click Files. Local Files on the left shows your computer, and Rescale Files on the right shows your files on Rescale, in four tabs: My Files, My Jobs, Legacy, and Trash.

Upload to Rescale

Pick the destination on the Rescale side first, then send items from your computer.

1. In Rescale Files, open the folder you want to upload into.
2. In Local Files, go to the file or folder you want. Use Home, Up one level, or type a path and press Enter. To include hidden files, open the … menu and turn on Show hidden files.
3. Click the upload button on the row. Its tooltip shows exactly where the item will go. To upload several items, select them and click Upload n.

You can upload into My Files. If you're in Legacy, uploads go to the top of My Files. You can't upload into My Jobs or Trash.

Download from Rescale

Pick the destination on your computer first, then send items from Rescale.

1. In Local Files, open the folder you want to download into.
2. In Rescale Files, find the files or folders you want in My Files, My Jobs, or Legacy.
3. Click the download button on the row, or select several items and click Download n.
4. If an item with the same name is already in the folder, choose Replace, Replace all, or Cancel.

A Name match tag means an item with the same name is on both sides. The app doesn't compare their contents.

The Files page, with your computer under Local Files and your Rescale files under Rescale Files.

Track transfers

Click Activity, then the Transfers tab. It shows how many transfers are Active, Queued, Completed, and Failed, and you can filter by All, Active, or Finished. Each row shows the name, progress, speed, size, and state. A tag on each row shows who started it: you, Edison, or a chat attachment. Folder transfers expand to show their files.

• To stop a transfer, click Cancel transfer, or Cancel folder transfer for a folder.
• To try a failed file again, click Retry transfer. You can't retry folder transfers here, so start them again from Files.
• To tidy the list, click Clear finished.

The list clears when you close the app. Your platform still records each completed transfer in your organization's file-access audit trail.

macOS is blocking access to this folder

If macOS blocks the app from a folder, Files shows this message with an Open System Settings button. Give Rescale Desktop access in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files & Folders, then try again.

Move files to Trash

In My Files or My Jobs, click Move to Trash on a row, or select several items and click Trash n. In the Trash tab, click Recover from Trash to restore an item, or Delete permanently to remove it. A permanent deletion can't be undone.

Follow your jobs

Jobs lists the jobs you can see in the current workspace, with their Name, Status, Created date, Owner, and ID. Click Refresh to update the list. To see a job's details or change it, click the icon in the Web column to open it on the platform.

You can't create or edit jobs in the app. Set them up on the platform, or ask Edison how.

Work with Rescale Edison

Rescale Edison is Rescale's AI assistant. It knows your account, jobs, and software, the same as on the platform. For what it can help with, see Rescale Edison.

1. Click Work with Edison in the left rail. A new chat opens.
2. Optional: click a quick-start card to fill in a prompt.
3. Optional: to use a specific agent, open the agent picker under the message box and choose one. The default, Auto (orchestrator), sends each request to the right agent for you.
4. Type your question in Ask anything… and press Enter. Press Shift+Enter for a new line.

The agent you choose stays with that chat. Every message you send in it goes to that agent, even after you restart the app, until you pick another one or switch back to Auto (orchestrator). Each new chat starts on Auto. A quick-start card that names an agent also sets the chat to that agent.

You can keep typing while Edison replies. Your messages wait in a queue, and you can remove one with Remove from the queue. When Edison uses a tool, the reply shows how many tool calls it made, and you can expand that to see them. Edison names the chat after your first message. Click the name at the top of the chat to change it.

Share a file from your computer

Attach a file to your message so Edison can work with it.

1. Click the paperclip (Attach files) in the message box.
2. Choose one or more files.

The app uploads them to the top of My Files and adds them to your message, so Edison can work with them.

Let Edison find and upload files

Edison can work with files on your computer, but only in folders you allow.

1. Allow a folder: click your email at the bottom of the rail, then Settings → Allowed folders. Enter a name and the path, or click Browse…, then click Add folder. New folders start with only Read turned on.
2. To let Edison upload from that folder, turn on Transfer to Rescale.
3. Ask Edison, for example: "Find the newest .sim file in Cases and upload it."
4. Before any transfer, Edison shows Permission requested, with what it will upload, the size, and where it will go. Click Allow once to go ahead, or Decline.

Edison asks every time it transfers a file. With Read on, it can find files by name and check their size and date without asking, but it doesn't open them. In this release, Edison can't read what's inside your files, change or delete them, or run programs on your computer.

Folder permission	What it lets the app do
Read	Find files in the folder and check their size and date
Write	Save files into the folder
Transfer to Rescale	Upload files from the folder to Rescale, with your approval each time
Run commands, Share with AI	Not used in this release

To see every request Edison made and whether it was allowed, open Permissions → History.

Manage your chats

Your recent chats are under Chats in the left rail. Right-click a chat, or click …, to Rename or Delete it. Each workspace keeps its own chats on your computer. Chats you start in the app also appear in your chat list on the Rescale platform. Chats you start on the platform don't appear in the app.

If you close the app while a reply is still coming in, that reply is lost. Wait for it to finish before you quit.

Customize the quick-start cards

The cards on a new chat are shortcuts to prompts you use often. Click Edit quick-start cards to add, edit, reorder, or delete them. Each card has a Title, a Description, a Prompt, and an optional Agent. Click Save when you're done, or Restore defaults to undo your changes.

Work with several workspaces

A workspace connects the app to one platform with one API key. If you use more than one platform or key, add a workspace for each one in Settings → Workspaces. To see which workspace you're in, open the context panel.

• Add workspace: connects a new platform and key, and switches to it.
• Switch to this workspace: changes workspaces right away, with no restart.
• Test connection: checks that the stored key still works.
• Replace key: swaps in a new API key, for example after the old one expires.
• Delete: removes the workspace's API key and all its local data on this computer. If it's your only workspace, the app goes back to first-time setup.

Change the theme

In Settings → App, choose Light, Dark, or System for Theme. System follows your computer's setting.

Update the app

The app checks for updates when it starts and every six hours after that. When an update has downloaded, a banner shows Rescale Desktop version is ready to install. Click Restart to update. To get an update sooner, restart the app.

If a download fails, the banner shows Couldn't download the update. Click Retry, or wait for the next launch. The app installs only updates signed by Rescale.

Get help when something goes wrong

Click Activity, then the Logs tab, to see what the app has been doing. You can search, filter by source and level, and expand a row for details.

To send details to Rescale Support:

1. Open Activity → Logs.
2. Click Export support bundle to save a .zip with sensitive values removed. If Support asks only for logs, click Export logs instead.
3. Attach the file to your support ticket.

If the app hits an error it can report, it opens a report window. Add a note in What were you trying to do?, then click Save report… or Copy to clipboard, and send it to your Rescale contact or support@rescale.com.

Pricing

There's no separate charge for the Rescale Desktop app. What you can use depends on your workspace's plan:

Plan	Files, Jobs, Activity, and transfers	Chat with Edison
HPC Foundations	Yes	No
Advanced Modeling & Simulation	Yes	Yes
Agentic Engineering	Yes	Yes

Using Edison in the app uses AI Credits the same way as on the platform. File storage and transfers are billed as they are on the platform.

Related

• Rescale Edison — what Edison can help with
• Get an API key — create the key the app connects with
• Platform regions and sign-in URLs — which platform your organization uses