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Setup guides → Mac
The Sunplug Agent on a Mac
A quick way to check that Sunplug can read your solar equipment before you order a Raspberry Pi. No terminal, no Docker, no configuration.
Read this first: a Mac is not an appliance
The agent reads only while it runs. When the Mac sleeps, shuts down or leaves the house, charging falls back to your inverter's cloud, minutes late. Use a Mac to try Sunplug, or if it stays on and awake. For a permanent setup, use the recommended Raspberry Pi image; it draws about as much as a phone charger.
Keep this Mac awake in the agent's menu stops automatic sleep; closing the lid or choosing Sleep still works.
Installing it
1. Download and drag
Open the disk image and drag Sunplug Agent onto Applications.
2. Open it
Open it from Applications. It is signed and notarised by Apple, so there is no "unidentified developer" warning.
3. Let it look
It scans your network for twenty to thirty seconds and shows the inverter it finds. Pairing is covered in the Sunplug Agent guide.
The permission it will ask for
When macOS asks whether Sunplug Agent may find devices on your local network, allow it, or the app finds nothing. If you declined, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network; the app offers to take you there.
Where it lives once it is running
It sits in the Dock and quits with ⌘Q; closing its window does not stop it. A sun in the menu bar, when macOS has room for it, shows the current reading and the same controls.
Turn on Start at login in that menu if this Mac does the reading.
Keeping it up to date
It checks daily and installs updates itself. Check for updates… in the menu checks now.
Stuck? Email me.