Your first region, start to vault.

1 · Install and get past the first-launch warning

Grab your platform's build from the releases page. The builds are unsigned, so every OS challenges the first launch. That's the operating system talking, and it happens once.

• Windows: SmartScreen shows “Windows protected your PC.” Click More info, then Run anyway.
• macOS: the first open is blocked because the app is not notarized. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the message about the blocked app, and click Open Anyway. If macOS claims the app is “damaged,” clear the quarantine flag in Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Hexes on Automatic.app".
• Linux: mark the AppImage executable (chmod +x or Properties → Permissions), then run it. Some distributions need the FUSE 2 library (libfuse2).

2 · Generate

The app opens with a seed already rolled and a region already surveyed, so there is a map on screen before you touch anything.

1. Type a seed, or hit the die to roll one. The same seed and knobs always rebuild the same region.
2. Set Columns and Rows for the map size (the default is 18×14 at six miles per hex).
3. Slide Water, Rugged and Moisture to shape the geography, and Settlements and Sites to set how peopled it is.
4. Click Generate. Terrain, rivers, settlements, dungeon sites, landmarks, roads and faction stubs land in one pass.

3 · Read the region

• Click any hex for its biome, features, obstacles and a short field description.
• The gazetteer panel lists settlements with their size and hex, dungeon sites, and every road with distance in miles and walking days.
• Use − / + / Fit to zoom, and the legend toggle in the corner when you need the color key.

4 · Polish, if you want the directors

This step is optional. Skip it and every place keeps its deterministic name.

1. Open the Local AI panel. The app looks for Ollama, LM Studio or a llama.cpp server you already run; if there is nothing to find, one click downloads a small model onto the app's own llama.cpp runtime after you approve the size and license.
2. Click Polish Region. Aldrith Vane renames the region and its places and writes gazetteer notes; Bram Half-Ear names the roads, flags the hazards and stages encounters from a shortlist matched to the terrain.
3. Every pick is validated against the map. A rejected pass falls back to the deterministic result and tells you so.

5 · Export to Vault

The vault is the point: an open folder of markdown, specified publicly, readable in Obsidian with zero apps installed.

1. Click Export to Vault and pick a folder — a new one, or an existing Campaign Vault.
2. Hexes writes regions/<region>/region.md with the travel table, one note per interesting hex, stubs for settlements, sites and factions, its machine state under state/, and a commissions/<site>.request.json work order for every dungeon site.
3. Open the folder in Obsidian. Anything you write outside the generated fences is yours and survives every re-export.
4. Later, Open from Vault lists the regions saved in a vault and reopens one; Save JSON / Open JSON carry a region as a single file.