DocsGetting Started

Getting Started

This guide walks you through downloading, installing, and configuring Spectra for your first worship service.

Download & Install

Spectra is available for macOS and Windows. Head to the download page to grab the latest installer.

macOS

Download the .dmg file from the download page
Open the downloaded file
Drag Spectra into your Applications folder
Launch Spectra from Applications or Spotlight

macOS Gatekeeper

If you see a “damaged” error on first launch, open Terminal and run: xattr -cr /Applications/spectra.app. This is because the app may not be signed with an Apple Developer certificate yet.

Windows

Download the .exe installer from the download page
If Windows shows a blue “Windows protected your PC” screen, click More info, then Run anyway (see below — this is expected)
The installer sets Spectra up automatically and launches it when it's done
Afterwards, open Spectra from the Start Menu or desktop shortcut

“Windows protected your PC” — this is normal

Spectra's Windows installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen shows an “unknown publisher”warning the first time you run it. This is expected for a new app and doesn't mean anything is wrong — the installer is the same file you downloaded from our download page. To continue, click More info and then Run anyway. You only see this once, during the very first install; automatic updates afterwards install silently in the background.

First Launch

When you open Spectra for the first time, it needs to download its AI models. Together they total approximately 480 MB — the Moonshine speech recognition model (~290 MB) plus a small embeddings model (~190 MB) used for semantic verse matching. This happens only once.

Info

You'll see a progress bar during the download. Once complete, the AI models are stored locally and Spectra works completely offline — no internet needed during services.

After the model downloads, you'll land on the main dashboard. Spectra opens maximized by default so you have full screen to work with.

Quick Tour of the Interface

The first time you open the dashboard, Spectra runs an interactive walk-through that does a real workflow with you — it finds a verse, adds it to a slide, drops it into the schedule, and sends it live — so you learn by watching the app respond. It also points out the Focused Reading and Settings buttons. You can replay it anytime from the ? (help) button next to the Spectra logo.

Spectra's dashboard uses a card-based layout with quick access to all features:

Browse Scripture

Browse 13+ Bible translations. Use the Book, Chapter, and Verse dropdowns to jump straight to any passage (it shows one chapter at a time), or type a reference like "John 3:16" or a phrase into the search box. Click any verse to add it to your schedule or double-click to present it instantly. Once a verse is live, just use the Down / Up arrow keys to step to the next / previous verse on screen — rolling across chapters — so you can follow the anchor verse by verse without touching the mouse. (The editor's Prev/Next buttons do the same.)

Song Collection

Import and manage worship songs with automatic verse segmentation. Color-coded sections. One click to schedule, double-click to present.

AI Listener

Real-time Bible verse detection from speech. Runs locally on your machine with no cloud dependency.

Text Builder

Create custom text slides for announcements, sermon points, or any content. Full formatting control.

Media Center

Import and organize images, videos, and audio into collections. Drag-and-drop to slides.

QR Code Generator

Generate custom QR codes with your church colors and logo. Project directly to the live screen.

Sermon Notes

AI-generated notes with key themes, scripture summary, timeline, and full transcript. Export or print.

Slide Schedule

Queue slides for your service, drag-and-drop to reorder, and go live with a single click.

Document Slides

Import PDF, Word, Markdown, or text files and project them page-by-page or as a continuous scroll. Perfect for sermon outlines and liturgies.

NDI Broadcasting

Stream up to 4 outputs — projector mirror plus transparent lower-third overlays — to OBS, vMix, ATEM, and any NDI-compatible software on your network.

Every area explains itself the first time

Opening Settings or Focused Reading for the first time runs its own short, focused tour — Settings walks the sections (Presentation, Bible Assets, AI/ASR, Broadcast/NDI, Displays), and Focused Reading covers the scripture reader, keyboard verse stepping, the AI Listener, the schedule, and the live preview. Each tour runs once and can be replayed independently: Settings from the ? button in its header, Focused Reading from the “Take a tour” button in its top bar.

Setting Up Your Microphone

For the AI Listener to work, Spectra needs access to a microphone input. Any microphone will work, but for best results:

Use an external microphone positioned near the speaker (within 2-3 feet)
A lapel mic on the pastor gives excellent results
Built-in laptop microphones work for smaller rooms but may pick up more ambient noise

macOS Permissions

On macOS, you need to grant microphone access. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and enable Spectra. The permission prompt should appear automatically on first use.

Bringing Your Existing Library

Switching from another program? You don't have to re-enter your songs. Open Settings → Import and bring your library straight across:

EasyWorship — select both Songs.db and SongWords.db from your EasyWorship data folder.
ProPresenter — select your .pro (ProPresenter 7) or .pro6 (ProPresenter 6) song files.
Open formats — OpenLyrics, OpenSong, ChordPro, or plain-text lyrics.
Media — bulk-import your images, videos, and audio into the Media Center.

Imported songs are automatically restructured into native Spectra songs — verses and choruses are detected and split to your slide-size settings — so they look and behave exactly like songs you build in Spectra. You get a preview to review and pick which songs to bring in, and duplicates already in your library can be skipped.

Help, right where you are

You don't have to leave the app to remember what a control does. Right-click almost any button, toggle, or picker in Spectra and a small menu appears with “Show the doc” — click it and you get a one- or two-sentence plain explanation of exactly what that control does, right next to your cursor. Press Escape or click away to dismiss it.

It's completely unobtrusive: only the controls Spectra has written a note for respond this way, and everything else keeps its normal right-click behaviour. The help layer also never appears on the projector or NDI output — it's just for you at the operator station.

A quick reminder, not a manual

“Show the doc” is for a fast “what is this?” in the moment. For the full picture — workflows, edge cases, and setup — these documentation pages are still the place to look.

Next Steps

Now that Spectra is installed and your microphone is set up, you're ready to go! Build your service in the Library guide(Song Collection & Lyric Segmenter, Text Builder, Media Center), learn how the AI Listener detects verses from live speech, dial in the look in the Presentation guide (Theme Studio drag-and-drop designer, animated lyric reveal, document imports), or wire Spectra into your stream rig in the Broadcasting (NDI) guide.

Introduction

Library