Installation¶

refractions has two parts:

1. A helper daemon that runs locally on your Mac (it does the OLE manipulation and talks to Prism via AppleScript).
2. An Office Add-in that adds the refractions task pane to PowerPoint.

The installer sets up both at once.

1. Download¶

Download the installer from your purchase email or the download page.

Unzip it. You'll see a folder containing:

• install.sh
• daemon/ — the helper binary
• addin/manifest.xml — the Office Add-in manifest
• installer/com.refractions.daemon.plist — the LaunchAgent definition

2. Run the installer¶

In Terminal:

cd ~/Downloads/refractions
./install.sh

The installer will:

• Copy the daemon to ~/.refractions/daemon/
• Install a LaunchAgent so the daemon auto-starts on login
• Open the add-in manifest in PowerPoint to sideload it

If macOS prompts you to allow the daemon to run, click Allow in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

3. Sideload the add-in¶

When install.sh opens addin/manifest.xml in PowerPoint, you'll see a one-time prompt asking whether to install the add-in. Click Install.

After installation, the refractions button appears in the Home ribbon. Click it to open the task pane.

4. Activate your license¶

The first time the task pane opens you'll see a license-key prompt — see Activation.

Verifying the daemon is running¶

Open Terminal and run:

curl http://localhost:27832/api/status

You should see something like:

{ "ok": true, "version": "1.0.0", "activeSessions": 0 }

If the daemon is not running, see Troubleshooting → daemon not running.