Getting started

Numlex is a native macOS notepad calculator: type plain lines and get live, checked results in the column beside them. This page gets you from download to your first calculation.

Requirements

• macOS 26 or later, Apple Silicon (arm64). There is no Intel build.
• Free and open source under the MIT license.

Install

Download the DMG from the latest release, open it, and drag Numlex.app to Applications.

Note: Numlex is signed ad-hoc and is not notarized. If macOS blocks the first launch, Control-click (right-click) Numlex.app → Open → confirm. Whether this works depends on your macOS version and system state. Do not disable Gatekeeper system-wide.

You can also install via Homebrew from the custom tap Qulierm/homebrew-tap:

brew install --cask Qulierm/tap/numlex

Note: the Homebrew cask can lag the latest GitHub release — the release page above is always the authoritative source.

Updates

Numlex 4.9.6 is the current release. Secure in-app updates (Sparkle) arrived in 4.8.0: users still on 4.7.0 or earlier install the current release manually once; from 4.8.0 on, later versions install from inside the app. See Settings & appearance for the update controls and Privacy & network for exactly what an update check sends.

First launch

A genuinely new install opens on a one-time calculation bloom: ten real calculations gather around the app icon and settle into the official slogan with a single Get Started button. Pressing Get Started reveals the notebook underneath; with Reduce Motion the final lockup is simply there, immediately usable, with no staged animation. The sequence runs once per install and existing installs never see it. There is no Replay command anywhere in the app — the welcome sequence is not a feature you can re-run.

Either way, you are one line away from a result — create a sheet and type:

30 + 567 × 2
15% of 4572

That’s it. No accounts, no setup, no configuration required. Your sheets are stored locally on this Mac.

How these docs are organized

• Getting started and guides (this section and Using Numlex) describe the released app and everyday workflows.
• The Syntax Reference and Reference sections describe the current app in full detail; released builds may differ.

Where to go next

• Quick tour — the main ideas in five minutes.
• Natural calculations — everything you can type.
• Dates & times — calendar arithmetic, clocks, timezones, timestamps, duration arithmetic and work calendars.
• Finance & investments — compound interest, loans, configured sales tax, income-tax estimates and inflation.
• Tags, subtotals & statistics — tagged rows, section subtotals, aggregates and the configurable footer statistic.
• Export & print — PDF export and native printing.
• Syntax Reference — the complete language reference.
• Privacy & network — exactly what (little) Numlex sends online.