Spline for Desktop
Spline works fully in the browser, but the desktop app gives you a few things the browser can't: tabs for working across several files, system fonts, and MCP support for connecting AI coding tools to your editor.
Download Spline for Desktop — macOS and Windows. The download page always serves the current version and lists the system requirements for it.
Working with tabs
The desktop app keeps your files in tabs, like a browser.
- Home is pinned as the first tab and can't be closed — it's your dashboard.
- + at the end of the tab strip opens a short menu: 3D Scene, Design, Generate, and your Recents. Pick one and it opens in a new tab.
- Drag a tab along the strip to reorder it.
- Right-click a tab for Reload, Copy Link and Close.
- Double-click the Home tab to return to your dashboard.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New tab | ⌘/Ctrl + T |
| Close tab | ⌘/Ctrl + W |
| Next tab | Ctrl + Tab |
| Previous tab | Ctrl + Shift + Tab |
| Reload | ⌘/Ctrl + R |
| Force reload | ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + R |
The same actions are in the View → Tabs menu.
What opens in a new tab
Rather than replacing what you're looking at, these open alongside it:
- A file from dashboard search or the notifications panel
- A remix from Discover or Templates
- Anything created from the + menu
- Community and Academy, which open inside the app rather than your browser
What the desktop app adds
MCP support
The MCP server is bundled in the desktop app, so connecting Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Antigravity or ChatGPT to your editor only works here — there's nothing to install or configure, the app registers itself with the clients it finds when it launches. See Spline MCP Server.
System fonts
In Hana, the font picker includes the fonts installed on your machine, not just Spline's web fonts. See Designing in Hana.
Updates
The app updates itself. When a new version is ready a toast appears in the corner — click Refresh and it reloads every open tab onto the new version. You can also check manually from Spline → Check for Updates…
If you're on an old build, update before troubleshooting anything. Several features in these docs — tabs, the + menu, MCP registration and in-app Community — don't exist in earlier versions.