Quick start
From install to your first answer in five minutes.
1. Install HISAB 360
Download the latest installer from your account dashboard: HISAB-360-Setup-64bit.exe (or -32bit.exe), shipped alongside an MSI. It is an Authenticode code-signed installer that installs per-machine to C:\Program Files\HISAB, so it needs administrator rights once.
Run the EXE and follow the prompts. Everything ships inside: Node.js 22 and Python are bundled, and the Claude Code and Codex AI engines are set up automatically during installation — no separate downloads, no commands to run.
- Requirements: Windows 10 or 11, Excel 2016+ or Microsoft 365 desktop, .NET Framework 4.8, and WebView2 (Evergreen).
- To uninstall: Settings › Apps (or Add/Remove Programs). The uninstaller runs a cleanup that removes HISAB's runtime artifacts — the
%APPDATA%/%LOCALAPPDATA%HISAB folders, the HKCU registry entries, PATH entries, and the HISAB MCP entries it added to your AI CLIs' configs.
2. Open Excel
Launch Excel. On the Home ribbon tab you'll find a HISAB 360 group with a single large button, also labelled HISAB 360. Click it.
The task pane slides in from the right with the HISAB chat panel. The first time it loads, it shows a brief animated splash while WebView2 initialises (about 1 second).
Sign in to HISAB with your account (Google, GitHub, or email) to activate your free 15-day trial — it includes 50 HISAB AI credits, so the built-in AI works immediately.
3. Choose your AI (both are ready)
HISAB gives you two AI modes, switchable any time with the AI source toggle in Settings:
- HISAB AI (built in) — zero setup. Pick a model and chat; usage is metered in simple credits and your trial starts with 50. If this is you, skip straight to your first question.
- Own AI — your own Anthropic Claude (Claude Code) or OpenAI Codex account, billed to you directly by Anthropic or OpenAI with no markup. The engines were installed automatically with HISAB — nothing to install, just sign in (next step).
4. Own AI only — sign in to your AI
Using HISAB AI? Skip this step. From the sign-in card in Settings, click Sign in — the button runs the right login command for you (it sorts out Claude's PATH and points Codex at HISAB's isolated home) and opens your browser for OAuth.
Your browser opens directly on the provider's authorization page — approve with a subscription (a Claude or ChatGPT plan — recommended, far more usage per dollar) or a pay-as-you-go API key, and the sign-in completes automatically. No codes to copy or paste.
When your engine is connected, the MCP pill at the top of the Chat tab turns green. Browser didn't open? See Common hiccups & fixes below.
5. Ask your first question
Open any workbook with data — a trial balance, a bank statement, a sales report. Switch to the Chat tab in the HISAB panel and type:
What sheets are in this workbook, and what's in each one?HISAB sends the workbook structure to the AI, which replies with a summary. From there, the conversation can go anywhere: reconcile these two sheets, draft a journal entry, run a pivot, push results to Zoho Books.
Skills are pre-built routines for common tasks — bank reconciliation, accruals, ageing, audit sampling, variance analysis, and more. You don't invoke them by name: just describe the task in plain English and HISAB loads the matching skill automatically. To browse the full catalogue, open the Skills section in the side rail.
Switch between Claude and Codex
You can install and keep both engines, then flip between them whenever you like. In Settings, the Active provider card has a radio toggle: Claude Code (default) and Codex (OpenAI). The switch takes effect on your next message — same HISAB tool surface and same approval cards either way.
Turn on voice
HISAB can listen and talk back.
- Voice input. Click the microphone (Voice) button in the chat box and grant microphone permission once. It uses the operating-system speech engine, so there's no API key and no network required — speak, pause, and your words are transcribed into the chat box.
- Voice output. By default, replies are read aloud with your built-in Windows TTS voices (no key). For premium, ChatGPT-quality voices, open Settings › Voice, pick a provider — OpenAI or Google Cloud — and paste that provider's API key, then choose a voice. Each reply also has a Speak button to read just that one reply aloud.
The Settings cards
The Settings panel is card-based. The cards you'll use most:
- Install Claude / Install Codex (self-heal). The engines install automatically with HISAB; this card is only needed if one is ever missing (e.g. blocked by endpoint security) — it shows a one-line re-install command with a Copy button.
- Verify. Re-checks whether the CLI is installed — restart-free, reading the live PATH and bundled Node.
- Sign-in. The Sign in button — runs the login for your engine and opens the browser OAuth flow.
- Active provider. The Claude / Codex radio toggle.
- Voice. Windows TTS on/off, premium provider + API key, and voice selection.
- Account & license. Under Signup & Updates: your sign-in, plan, and server-validated license status.
Common hiccups & fixes
The panel's Sign in button normally opens your browser straight to the provider's authorization page and completes automatically — no codes to paste. If the browser doesn't appear, click Sign in again, or use the card's Copy command button to run the same login from a terminal; it re-opens the browser and authorizes automatically.
Only if you ran a login by hand in a terminal and it asks you to paste a code: Windows consoles often sit in QuickEdit mode, which blocks input — click once inside the console (or press Esc), then paste. The panel button avoids all of this.
HISAB runs AI-written Python in a bundled, isolated, offline sandbox. On the very first use right after install, the sandbox may be installed but not yet initialised ("not ready").
Fix: close Excel and reopen it. The sandbox finishes initialising on the next launch and then works.