Knowledge Base

This is macOS being cautious about apps downloaded outside the App Store — the app is safe. The one-time fix:

1. Find the app in your Applications folder (or wherever you placed it)
2. Right-click (or Control-click) the app icon
3. Choose Open from the menu
4. In the dialog that appears, click Open again

macOS remembers your choice — from then on the app opens normally with a double-click.

We're actively working with Apple on a permanent resolution so this step won't be needed in a future release.

That blue SmartScreen notice appears for newly released software that Windows hasn't seen many times yet. Our Windows apps are digitally signed (publisher: Frederic LeFevre), and the notice disappears as more people install them. To proceed:

1. Click More info on the blue screen
2. Confirm the publisher name is shown, then click Run anyway

That's it — installation continues normally and you won't be asked again for that version.

The short version (the in-app user guide — Help → User Guide — has the fully illustrated walkthrough):

1. Go to aistudio.google.com and sign in with your Google account (a Gmail address is a Google account)
2. Accept the Terms of Service if asked
3. Open Dashboard → API Keys
4. Click Create API Key, name it, and click Copy next to the key
5. Paste it into the app's Gemini API key field and leave "Remember key on this computer" checked
6. Back on the Google dashboard, choose Set up Billing on your key (see the prepaid-credits article below)

Yes — that's Google's standard setup since March 2026, and it's not an extra fee.

Google now asks new API users to pre-purchase credits (minimum US $10) instead of billing a card monthly. That $10 is your image budget: each generation draws a few cents from it. At typical prices, $10 covers roughly 40–140 images. Credits last 12 months.

Google bills you directly — we never see or touch your payment details.

Nearly always a copy-paste issue — part of the key got missed, or extra spaces came along. A real key is long enough to more than fill the entire key field.

1. Go back to aistudio.google.com/api-keys
2. Click Copy next to your key (don't select the text by hand)
3. Click into the app's key field, select all (Cmd/Ctrl+A), and paste fresh

Image generation requires billing — Google's free tier does not include image models, so a brand-new key won't generate anything until billing is set up on it at aistudio.google.com (for new accounts that's the minimum US $10 prepaid credit purchase — see the prepaid-credits article).

If you already bought credits and it stopped again, check your remaining balance on the Google dashboard — you may just need a top-up.

No. Nothing watches your computer — ever. The key works in the other direction: think of it like a prepaid phone card for Google's drawing service.

• The key is a password that belongs to you, tied to your own Google account
• When you click Generate, your computer sends Google one thing: the photo you chose, with your instructions. The key just tells Google whose account to charge those few cents to
• Between clicks of that button, nothing is connected and nothing is listening
• Your key never reaches us — it stays on your computer

You stay in control: you can sign in at aistudio.google.com any time and delete the key, and it instantly stops working everywhere.

Google charges your API key a small fee per generated image, depending on the model and output size — roughly 7 to 25 cents:

• Nano Banana 2 (fast): $0.067 (1K) · $0.101 (2K) · $0.151 (4K)
• Nano Banana Pro (best): $0.134 (1K/2K) · $0.24 (4K)

Only the Generate buttons cost money — adjusting colours, resizing, saving, and printing are free. Both apps show the price before you click, and the charge comes from Google (your credits), never from us. Prices shown are as published by Google and can change; Help → Check for Updates refreshes them.

Yes! TraceWorks and Rug Hook Studio both have browser versions that run on iPad (and iPhone, and any computer with a modern browser) — no installation needed.

Open the web app from the product page, then enter your license key and your Gemini API key — the same ones you use on desktop. Using the web version does not use up your desktop activations.

Use Help → Check for Updates inside the app. One click checks two things:

• whether a newer version of the app is available, and
• whether Google's model list or prices have changed — those refresh instantly, no reinstall needed

That's completely normal — AI generation has natural variation, like asking an artist to draw the same scene twice. Each version will be a little different.

Most people generate 2–4 versions and keep their favourite. Each try costs the same small per-image fee, and small wording changes in the instructions box can steer the result too.

Install the app on the new computer and activate with your original license key (it's in your purchase email). If activation says you've reached your limit, just submit a ticket with your license key or order email — we'll free up the old activation, usually within a day.