Frequently asked

No. You never write code, and you don’t need to read it — no C++, no DSP, no build setup. What you do bring is your own AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Antigravity, and the like). You describe the sound, the behavior, and the look the way you’d describe it to another musician; your agent writes the plugin, Pook runs it live in your DAW, and you keep listening and asking for changes until it’s right. If you can tell someone what you want to hear, you can make it.

If you already pay for Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, you almost certainly already have one — the coding agent comes with the plan you’re on, and you sign in with the account you already have. Exactly which plans include one is listed on the supported AI agents page, and there is a free way in if you have no plan at all. Pook itself is free to try.

Yes — Pook, the plugin you load in your DAW. It runs and plays what you build. It’s a free, separate download.

Yes. Pook works with any coding agent — the ones we name are just the agents we test with most regularly.

Yes. What you build is plain text in a folder on your own machine, so any agent that can read and write files there can work on it. Tools like Cline, Aider and OpenCode are open source and work exactly this way. Pook opens the agents it recognises for you; with any other one you copy the first message across yourself. What decides how good the plugin turns out is the model behind the agent rather than the app around it — a small model running entirely on your own laptop will struggle with the harder audio work.

Yes. Pook, your builder, and everything you make work the same on macOS and Windows.

Three things: Pook installed, one builder — Pook Fx, Pook Instrument, or Pook Studio — and your own AI coding agent. You describe what you want, your agent writes it, and Pook runs it live in your DAW — hot-reloading on every edit, with no need to restart the DAW or rescan plugins.

Everything between your idea and a finished plugin. Yours opens at the right size on any screen, stays in time with the rest of your session, remembers its settings when you reopen the project, follows automation and MIDI, and stays light on CPU — on every DAW, with nothing to set up. Releasing it is what we’re building next: builds for Mac and Windows, the signing that keeps your installer from being flagged as untrusted, an installer with your name on it, and unlocking with no serial numbers. You stay on the sound, the behavior, and the look.

VST3, AU, and AAX, on macOS and Windows — every major DAW: Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Studio One, Bitwig Studio, Reaper, Reason, Cakewalk, Digital Performer, GarageBand, Luna, Ardour, and more.

Send someone your plugin file (.pook) — if they have Pook it opens instantly, and if not, their free 21-day trial activates from it in under two minutes. Keep in mind the .pook holds your actual source, so anyone you share it with can read and modify it. That’s perfect for collaborating; for releasing something protected and for sale, a Giveaway or publisher plan will cover it when publishing opens.

No. Most people start by building something for themselves — the compressor, the reverb, the weird thing nobody makes — and just use it in their own music. That’s a complete, perfectly good way to use Pook, and it’s where nearly everyone begins. Selling is what we’re building next: you’ll be able to walk through that door years later with something you built for yourself on day one.

That’s what Pook is for, and it’s the next thing we’re building. What you build is already yours — source and all — but the plans that carry the commercial license aren’t open yet; you can join the waitlist from the pricing page. When they open, you’ll release under your own brand and keep every sale.

Two things, once publishing opens: a builder — Pook Fx, Pook Instrument, or Pook Studio — to make the plugin, and a publishing plan to release it. Indie Publisher or Pro Publisher will let you sell under your own brand; a Giveaway will do the same for a single free plugin, on top of a builder you already own, carrying Pook branding. Sharing the raw file with another Pook user needs neither.

A real plugin, not a project file. When publishing opens, Pook will build your source into installers for macOS and Windows — signed, so they install without a warning, and carrying VST3, AU, and AAX from one build. Your customer downloads an installer with your name on it, runs it, and the plugin shows up in their DAW like anything else they bought.

Here’s how it will work when publishing opens. Someone who buys your plugin unlocks it with their purchase email and a one-time code — no serial numbers or license files to keep track of. You’ll connect your store (Gumroad, LemonSqueezy, Paddle, Stripe) and licenses will be issued automatically on purchase. You set how many machines each license covers, and your customer can move it between their own machines themselves.

There won’t be one. No commissions, no per-sale fees — Pook will charge you for the plan, not for your sales. Your customers, your brand, and every dollar you earn stay yours.

That’s the publisher dashboard, and it opens with publishing — your whole business in one place. You’ll see your customers and what they bought, issue free licenses, set trial length and the machine limit per license, revoke a license for support or refunds, view and remotely deactivate machines, connect your store to issue licenses automatically, and push one-click updates to your whole customer base.

Fix it in your source and rebuild — that part works today. Once publishing opens, shipping the fix to people who bought it will be the same move: rebuilds and updates will be unlimited on a publisher plan, and your customers will get a one-click update prompt the next time they open the plugin, so the fix reaches everyone without you touching an installer.

They’ll keep their plugins forever. When you cancel, Pook will rebuild each released plugin with an offline license and email your existing customers a personal key they can use forever, on as many machines as they like — no server or Pook account needed. You simply won’t be able to sell to new customers or issue new licenses until you’re back.