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Reference > Settings & account

Account

Sign in, sign up, and how accounts work.

The Mel terminal itself needs no account — download it and everything local works immediately. An account exists for one thing: access to the Mel agent. Signing up is self-serve and free — no waitlist.

Signing in

  1. Click the avatar in the top-right of the titlebar and choose Sign in / Create account (or type /signin in an agent conversation).
  2. Choose Continue with Google, Continue with GitHub, Continue with Apple or Continue with email. Each continues in your browser, so no password is typed in the app; with email, Mel shows a short code that you confirm on openmel.dev. Use password instead signs in with an email and password.
  3. On success your session token is stored locally and every later agent request uses it automatically.

If you try to use the agent while signed out, Mel shows the same sign-in window — you don't have to remember the command.

Your session token is saved at ~/.local/share/mel/auth_token (%APPDATA%\mel\auth_token on Windows) with owner-only permissions, and your email is kept beside it so the app can show who's signed in. See Privacy for the full local-data picture.

Signing up

The same window creates an account (New to Mel? Create an account), with Google, GitHub, Apple or email. Signing up creates a free Mel account instantly and signs you in — there's no waitlist and nothing to wait for. Your session token is stored locally and used automatically for later agent requests.

On the Free plan the agent runs on your own provider key (Settings → AI → Provider API keys) — 0 Mel credits, no Mel markup — or upgrade to Pro, Max or Business for hosted-AI credits every month with no keys to manage. Fair-use ceilings apply to every plan; if you hit one, the app tells you and points you at your options — see Billing and usage.

Where your account shows up

  • Titlebar avatar menu — your email appears at the top when signed in; Log out is at the bottom. The menu also has the update check, What's new, Settings, the shortcuts reference, Documentation, Feedback, View app data, Provider keys (BYOK) and Billing and Usage.
  • Settings → Account — shows your email with a Log out button (or the sign-in buttons), plus the app version.
  • Settings → Profile — your name, display name, time zone and email address.
  • Settings → Security — your password, the devices signed in to your account, and recent sign-ins. See the Settings overview.

Useful commands

All of these run inside an agent conversation and are handled locally:

CommandWhat it does
/signin or /loginOpens the sign-in panel
/signout or /logoutRemoves the local token and ends the session
/whoami or /accountShows who's signed in

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