Installation & First Launch

This guide walks you through downloading, installing, and launching RTILA X for the first time. The entire process takes approximately 3–5 minutes.

Step 1: Download RTILA X

1. Go to the RTILA X download page.
2. Click the download button for your operating system.
3. Save the installer file to your computer.

Step 2: Install

Windows

1. Run the downloaded .msi installer.
2. If Windows shows a security warning (“Windows protected your PC”), click “More info” → “Run anyway”. This happens because RTILA X is not yet in the Microsoft SmartScreen whitelist.
3. Follow the installation wizard. Click Next through the prompts.
4. Visual C++ Redistributable: The installer automatically checks whether you have Visual C++ 2019 or later installed. This is required for the automation engine to run. If it’s missing or outdated, the installer will run the VC++ Redistributable setup automatically (you’ll see a brief secondary installer window). You do not need to do anything manually.
5. The installer also terminates any lingering RTILA processes (database, engine, relay, tunnel) from previous installations to prevent file conflicts.
6. Click Finish when complete.

Tip: On Windows Server editions (2019+), ensure Visual C++ Redistributable is installed. The installer handles this automatically, but if you’re deploying via Group Policy or silent install, verify it separately.

macOS

1. Open the downloaded .dmg file.
2. Drag the RTILA icon into the Applications folder.
3. On first launch, macOS Gatekeeper will likely block the app with a message like “RTILA cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.”
4. To bypass this, go to System Preferences → Security & Privacy → General tab.
5. You’ll see a message about RTILA being blocked. Click “Open Anyway”.
6. Alternatively, right-click the RTILA app in Applications and choose Open from the context menu, then click Open in the confirmation dialog.

Note: RTILA X supports both Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) and Intel Macs natively. No Rosetta translation is needed.

Linux

1. Download the .AppImage or .deb file.
2. For AppImage:
   • Make it executable: chmod +x rtila-x.AppImage
   • Double-click to run, or run from terminal: ./rtila-x.AppImage
3. For .deb:
   • Install: sudo dpkg -i rtila-x.deb
   • If dependencies are missing: sudo apt-get install -f
4. Ensure a full Desktop GUI is available. RTILA X requires a graphical environment — it will not work on headless servers. GNOME is the recommended desktop environment.

Warning: RTILA X requires libwebkit2gtk-4.0, libgtk-3-0, and libappindicator3-1 on Linux. Install them with: sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 libgtk-3-0 libappindicator3-1

Step 3: First Launch — Connection Mode

On first launch, RTILA X shows a connection mode selection screen. This determines where your data lives and how the application operates.

You have 5 seconds to change the selection before it auto-proceeds with the default. Press ESC or click “Change Connection Mode” to open the selection dialog at any time during the countdown.

Mode	Description	Best For
Local (Default)	Everything runs on your computer. The embedded database starts automatically. Maximum privacy. No setup required.	Most users. Full privacy. No internet needed for core features.
Cloud	Connects to the official RTILA cloud server for synced projects. Your projects are stored remotely.	Teams who need shared access to projects.
Remote Self-Hosted	Connect to your own server running the RTILA backend. You provide the IP address or domain.	Advanced users running RTILA on a VPS, home lab, or local network server.

Tip: If you choose Local mode (recommended for most users), RTILA X will automatically start the embedded database and begin initialization. You do not need to configure anything.

Selecting Remote Mode

If you choose Remote Self-Hosted, you’ll need to enter the server address:

1. Select Remote Self-Hosted in the connection mode dialog.
2. Enter your server’s IP address or domain URL (e.g., http://192.168.1.100 or https://api.my-server.com).
3. RTILA X will attempt to connect and verify the server is reachable.
4. If the connection fails, you’ll see an error message and can try a different address.

Step 4: Database Initialization (Automatic)

After selecting your connection mode, RTILA X automatically initializes its embedded database. You’ll see progress messages in the window. Here’s what happens behind the scenes:

1. Directory creation — RTILA creates the ~/.rtila-x/ directory structure including subdirectories for the database, migrations, hooks, profiles, and extensions.
2. Hook deployment — Database hooks (JavaScript files that handle audit logging, license validation, project versioning, and scheduled tasks) are written to the hooks directory.
3. Migration deployment — Database schema migrations are written and will be applied when the database starts.
4. Port check — RTILA checks if port 8880 is already in use. If another process is using it, RTILA will terminate that process to avoid conflicts.
5. Database startup — The PocketBase database sidecar is started with the command: rtila-database serve --http=127.0.0.1:8880
6. Health check — RTILA polls the database health endpoint (/api/health) up to 30 times (15 seconds) waiting for it to become ready.
7. Superuser security — A random 32-character password is generated and stored in ~/.rtila-x/database/.db_key. The default superuser credentials are immediately replaced with this secure password.
8. Migration cleanup — Migration files are removed from disk after being applied (they live inside the database now).

Note: This entire process takes 2–5 seconds on most computers. You’ll see status messages like “Initializing database…”, “Starting database…”, “Waiting for database to initialize…” during this time.

Step 5: License Activation

After the database is ready, you’ll see the license activation screen.

You have two options:

Option A: Enter a License Key

If you purchased RTILA X, enter your license key in the “Enter Your License Key” field and click Activate.

Option B: Enter a Team Member URL

If your organization purchased a team license, you may have been given a Team Member URL instead of a license key. Paste it in the second field.

Option C: Free Community License

If you don’t have a license yet, click “Get Free License” to obtain a free community license. This opens a browser window to the license checkout page. The free license includes:

• 1 device activation
• 1 active automation project
• Unlimited runs for that 1 project
• Access to the AI Assistant

Tip: The free license requires no credit card. Complete the checkout process, and you’ll receive a license key via email. Enter it on the activation screen.

What Happens During Activation

When you click Activate, RTILA X:

1. Generates a unique machine identifier for your computer
2. Sends your license key (or Team Member URL) and machine ID to the license server
3. The server validates your license and registers this machine as an activation
4. If valid, your license details are stored locally and you proceed to profile creation
5. If you’ve exceeded your activation limit, you’ll see an error with an option to manage existing activations

Step 6: Create Your First Profile

After license activation, RTILA X asks you to create a profile. Profiles are like user accounts within the app — each profile has its own projects, data, and settings.

1. Enter a Profile Name (e.g., “Personal”, “Work”, “Client X”).
2. Optionally enable Password Protection by toggling the switch. If enabled, you’ll need to enter a password (minimum 8 characters) each time you switch to this profile.
3. Click “Create Profile and Start”.

What’s a profile? Think of it as a workspace. Each profile keeps its projects, scraped data, chat history, and settings completely separate. You can create multiple profiles for different clients, different purposes, or different team members.

Tip: If you enable password protection, make sure you remember the password. There is no “forgot password” recovery for local profiles.

Step 7: Welcome Tour

On your first launch after profile creation, you’ll see the Welcome Tour — a series of 7 slides that introduce RTILA X’s key features:

1. Welcome to RTILA X — Introduction to the platform
2. 100% Private Local AI — How the local LLM and database keep your data private
3. Undetectable Bot Evasion — Humanoid mouse movements, Bezier curves, and anti-detection
4. Resilient Checkpoints — Auto-save and resume after crashes or network drops
5. Infinite Automations — Data extraction and trigger pipelines
6. A Gift: Courtesy AI Access — Free shared AI access to get started (with note about adding your own key)
7. Get Started — Final slide

Click “Next” to advance through slides, or “Get Started !” on the final slide to dismiss the tour.

Tip: The tour only shows once. If you want to see it again, you can clear the hasSeenWelcomeTour flag in your profile preferences.

Step 8: You’re In!

After the Welcome Tour, you arrive at the main Dashboard. From here you can:

• Create and manage automation projects
• Chat with the AI Assistant to build automations
• View scraped data and execution logs
• Schedule tasks to run automatically
• Configure browser profiles and stealth settings
• Build and export standalone bots
• Set up trigger chains for post-processing

The sidebar on the left gives you access to all major features:

• AI Assistant (home icon) — Chat with AI to build automations
• Automation Projects — Manage your projects
• Browser Profiles — Configure stealth browser environments
• Trigger Chains — Build post-processing pipelines
• Standalone Bots — Export automations as executables
• Scraped Data — View extracted data
• Project Runs — View execution history
• Execution Logs — Detailed logs from runs
• Task Scheduler — Schedule automations
• Remote Control — Telegram bot integration

Troubleshooting Installation Issues

Windows

Problem	Solution
“Windows protected your PC” warning	Click “More info” → “Run anyway”
Installer fails with “file in use” error	Close any running RTILA instances. The installer auto-kills RTILA processes, but antivirus may interfere.
App won’t start after install	Ensure Visual C++ Redistributable 2019+ is installed. Run VC_redist.x64.exe from the install directory manually.
Port 8880 conflict	Another application is using port 8880. Close it or change the port in RTILA’s database configuration.
Antivirus blocks the app	Add an exclusion for the RTILA installation directory. Some antivirus tools flag the Deno engine or Playwright browser binaries.

macOS

Problem	Solution
“Cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified”	Go to System Preferences → Security & Privacy → General → “Open Anyway”
App bounces in Dock and closes	Check Console.app for crash logs. Ensure macOS 11+ is installed.
“Damaged” error on launch	Run xattr -cr /Applications/RTILA.app in Terminal
Browser won’t launch	Ensure Microsoft Edge, Brave, or Chrome is installed. Safari is not supported.

Linux

Problem	Solution
AppImage won’t run	Run chmod +x rtila-x.AppImage first
Missing shared libraries	Install: sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 libgtk-3-0 libappindicator3-1 libayatana-appindicator3-1
No display / headless error	RTILA X requires a graphical desktop. It cannot run on headless servers.
Permission denied on .deb	Use sudo dpkg -i rtila-x.deb

All Platforms

Problem	Solution
Database won’t start	Check if port 8880 is available. Try deleting ~/.rtila-x/database/ and restarting (this resets all data).
License activation fails	Check your internet connection. Ensure the license key has no extra spaces.
Blank white window	Your graphics drivers may be outdated. Update GPU drivers. On Linux, ensure hardware acceleration is enabled.