Desktop app

The PhotonHub desktop app lets you draw or import a device, set up sources and monitors, run, and read plots. No Python, compiler or terminal is required.

Invitation-gated, and not yet publicly released

The desktop beta is invitation-only. A valid invitation code is required to register, and the app validates a signed-in, beta-eligible account on every launch. Desktop installers are issued to invited testers as they are promoted; none is publicly downloadable. Request access at leapfield.ai.

What the installer includes

Separate native installers per platform: a DMG for macOS 14+ on Apple Silicon and a Setup EXE for Windows 11 x64 on a currently supported servicing release. Each bundles the app, the local Python runtime, a CPU-only phsolver, examples, and the required native runtimes.

There is no Linux installer in this beta. Intel Macs, Windows on ARM, and Windows 10 are not supported by these installers.

What runs where

After admission, local CPU simulation is free and does not consume Cloud GPU credit. For local CPU runs the computation, inputs, and results stay on the machine. Account and session validation crosses the network; a Cloud-enabled account may additionally provision a scoped desktop cloud credential. Neither operation uploads your simulation payload or results.

Registration, sign-in, and each launch require Internet access.

Relationship to the SDK

The desktop app and the SDK build the same Simulation object and return the same RunResult structure. Numerical comparisons also require matching engine revisions and settings. See Engine provenance.

The app also ships a notebook panel that drives the open scene from Python (it preloads the scene handle wb and np). Cells run in a separate local process; the Workbench does not pass them its cloud key, including in sessions with Cloud GPU access. Use Run simulation for local or quoted cloud runs. Cells are ordinary Python and can read files available to your account. A cell is itself a process of that user and may inspect the app's local server process where the operating system permits it. In source development, an exported key remains in the launching shell and is visible in the app's main process. The installed app's local server keeps its solver-launch secret in its environment; its use is bound to that process, but same-user inspection may reveal it.

Exported simulation JSON can be read by the SDK. It stores resolved solver inputs, not every authoring field. Keep your applied workspace edits and backups as well. See Preserving state.

Where the detail lives

Your invitation includes desktop-beta-quickstart.md. It covers installer verification, registration, sign-in, the first CPU run, recovery and Cloud GPU setup. It comes with known-limitations and upgrade/rollback notes.

If you would rather stay in scripts and notebooks, use the headless path instead: same SDK, no GUI.

Use Troubleshooting for recovery and Known limitations for beta restrictions. For beta help, contact beta@leapfield.ai.