LymeScribe Server — from purchase to first transcription

A complete walkthrough for setting up an always-on LymeScribe Server on your own hardware, from picking a machine through activating your license and transcribing your first file.

1Before you buy

LymeScribe Server is a self-hosted product — it runs on a machine you own, not on a cloud LymeStack manages. That's the point (your audio never leaves your building), but it does mean setup takes more than a double-click. Read this whole page before you buy so there are no surprises.

2The 14-day free trial

You can install and use the full server for 14 days at no cost, no credit card required. The trial clock starts on your first transcription, not on install — so you can take your time getting WhisperX and the server running before the clock starts. When you're ready to keep it, buy a license and activate in the admin dashboard; nothing about your setup changes.

3Choose your platform

Either platform runs the same server software and the same admin dashboard, on port 58994 — everything past this point is the same guide with platform-specific notes called out.

4Install the prerequisites

Do this before installing LymeScribe Server itself — the installer sets up the app, not the ML tooling underneath it. Follow the guide for your platform, then come back here:

• Windows + WSL + NVIDIA GPU setup guide
• macOS (Apple Silicon) setup guide
• HuggingFace account & token setup (required on both platforms, for speaker diarization)

5Download your installer

Your license-key email includes a direct download link for your platform's installer. The two server installers are:

6Install the server

Windows

The Windows installer is not yet code-signed (an Authenticode certificate is on the roadmap), so Windows will warn you about an unrecognized publisher. This is expected — here's exactly how to get past it:

1. Run LymeScribe-x.y.z.msi. If a blue "Windows protected your PC" dialog appears, click the small "More info" link, then click the "Run anyway" button that appears.
2. If Windows then asks whether to allow the app to make changes to your device (an "unknown publisher" prompt), click Yes.
3. The installer registers a Windows Service named LymeScribe, opens a firewall rule for the server port, and starts the service automatically.

See also the general Windows install-warning walkthrough (written for the client app, but the same SmartScreen steps apply here).

Apple Silicon Mac

1. Open LymeScribe-x.y.z-macos-arm64.pkg and follow the installer. This package is signed and notarized, so macOS should not warn you.
2. The installer places the server at /usr/local/bin/lymescribe/ and registers a per-user launchd agent (com.lymescribe.api) that starts the server automatically and keeps it running.

First run — the setup wizard

However you installed, open http://localhost:58994/admin in a browser on the server machine. The first-run wizard walks you through, in order: confirming your prerequisites are in place, WhisperX execution mode and paths, model and device selection, an environment validation check (Python venv, WhisperX, GPU, ffmpeg), your HuggingFace token, and setting an admin password plus your first API key. Save that API key somewhere safe when it's shown — it's only displayed once, and you'll need it in step 8.

7Activate your license

Once setup completes you land on the admin dashboard. Activating your license is separate from the setup wizard and doesn't block transcription during the trial:

1. In the left sidebar, open Licensing.
2. Paste your license key — it looks like LS-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX — and click Activate.
3. The status card updates to show your license as active, along with activation usage (your license activates up to two machines — a production install plus one spare for a migration or rebuild) and your refund-window status.

Need to move your license to a new machine, or deactivate a retired one? Use the Deactivate this server button on the same page. LymeScribe never deactivates automatically when you uninstall — if a machine dies before you can deactivate it, email webinquiry@iadev.net and we'll sort it out.

8Connect your first client

Clients (the free LymeScribe Mac and Windows apps) connect to your server over the local network using an API key, not the license key:

1. On each client machine, open the LymeScribe app and go to Settings → Server.
2. Enter the server's address, e.g. 192.168.1.100:58994, and the API key created during setup (or a new one — see below).
3. Click Test Connection to confirm it's reachable, then Save & Connect.

Create additional named, individually revocable keys — one per person or device — from the admin dashboard's API Keys page, or via the CLI:

dotnet run -- keys create --name "Front Desk MacBook"

For advanced configuration (ports, TLS, rate limiting, and the full settings list), see the Server Setup section of the Configuration Guide included with your installation.

9Updating the server

When a new version is published, the admin dashboard shows a dismissible banner with the version number and release notes — the server checks for updates itself, but never downloads or installs automatically. To update:

1. Download the new versioned installer from the link in the banner (or from a new key/update email).
2. Run it, same as the original install — Windows uses its normal in-place upgrade path, macOS re-runs the pkg.
3. The server restarts on the new version. It's designed to preserve your settings, license activation, and history through an upgrade — nothing to reconfigure.

Offline or air-gapped servers simply never see the banner; that's fine, update manually whenever convenient.

10Troubleshooting & support

Server won't start after install: re-check the prerequisite guide for your platform — the most common cause is an incomplete WhisperX environment or a missing HuggingFace token. The setup wizard's environment-validation step will point at the specific failing check.

Transcription requests fail with "license required": your trial has ended or your license isn't active. Open the admin dashboard's Licensing page to check status and activate.

Can't reach the admin dashboard from another computer: by default it's reachable at the server's LAN IP on port 58994 (e.g. http://192.168.1.100:58994/admin); confirm the firewall rule (Windows) allows it, or that the Mac isn't behind a restrictive network profile.

Anything else: email webinquiry@iadev.net — a real person answers, best-effort (no numeric SLA at this stage, but we're quick).

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