Show HN: A local-first AI agent for the desktop, no Electron, any LLM endpoint

A developer publishing under the name Scronkfinkle released byob version 0.3.4, a local-first desktop AI agent that connects to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint — including llama-server, Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM or a hosted API — and works inside a folder, reading and writing files, running code, and building spreadsheets, charts, documents and small apps alongside the chat. byob ships as a native GPU-drawn application for Linux, macOS and Windows with no Electron, distributed as a roughly 60 MB download (13 MB for the slim build) and installable via `cargo install byob`, with release archives on GitHub. The agent includes file tools, `run_command` and `run_python` (sandboxed on Linux) with approval cards and per-turn undo, reads PDF, Word and PowerPoint files, keeps notes in plain Markdown, and exposes its prompt, core tools, artifacts and subagents as plugins on a public API.

Note Heads up: this project, README included, is influenced heavily by AI agents. If LLM-flavoured prose isn't your thing, fair warning. Human-written docs will come once things settle. A native desktop AI coworker for the model you already run. Point byob at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint llama-server, Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM or a hosted API and it works in a folder with you: reads and writes files, runs code, and builds spreadsheets, charts, documents and small apps beside the chat. byob is desktop software, not a web page in a window : one program for Linux, macOS and Windows that draws its own interface on the GPU, with no Electron. <sub Recorded live against a local model llama.cpp ; the waits for the model are cut.</sub - A real desktop app. One folder, about a 60 MB download with everything in it 13 MB for the slim build , and native file dialogs, drag and drop and keyboard shortcuts. The browser UI is the reverse of the usual arrangement: the same native interface compiled to WebAssembly, so a tab or your phone gets the identical app, live on the same session. - Your model, your machine. No bundled inference and no account: any OpenAI-compatible URL. First run finds local servers on their usual ports; tool calling falls back to prompt-based calls when the server has none. - Artifacts beside the chat. Spreadsheets xlsx/csv , charts, Markdown documents, images and HTML apps, each with its version history. - Hands, with a leash. File tools, run command and run python sandboxed on Linux ; approval cards with diffs; undo per turn. - Reads, searches and remembers. PDF, Word and PowerPoint files; images, for models that can see; web search and page reading Exa by default, or your own SearXNG, Brave or Tavily ; notes kept across chats in plain Markdown; a step plan for long tasks. - Workspaces. A folder with its own settings and where commands run: this machine, a Nix dev shell or a Docker/Podman container. Settings layer global → workspace → chat. - Everywhere you are. byob --serve opens that session to browsers too; with tailscale serve it's on your phone. - Everything is a plugin. The prompt, the core tools, artifacts, spreadsheets, subagents and compaction are bundled plugins on the same API anyone gets. Plugins add tools, draw UI panes, header chips, settings, cards , hook every stage of a turn, and run long-lived backends. byob can write and fix its own plugins from a chat. | <sub “Make me a plugin with a counter pane”: byob writes it, reads its own load errors, fixes them, and the pane appears.</sub | <sub HTML apps run inline, on the desktop a separate Servo renderer process ships with byob and in the browser UI.</sub | | <sub Open a CSV as a spreadsheet; every write recalculates and reports errors back to the model.</sub | <sub First run: pick a server it found, or a preset.</sub | <sub The browser UI at phone width.</sub cargo install byob with the browser UI built in cargo install byob --no-default-features slim: desktop only, a few MB smaller nix build github:Scronkfinkle/byob or . byob-slim Release archives for Linux, macOS and Windows are on the releases page https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/releases : byob-… has everything the browser UI and byob-artifact-host , which draws HTML apps inline; keep it next to byob , and byob-slim-… is byob alone. cargo install doesn't build the renderer; without it, HTML apps open in your browser with one click. On Linux byob needs no GUI toolkit file dialogs go through the XDG desktop portal or zenity; without either, drop files onto the window , and the renderer draws with the system's OpenGL Mesa . On macOS the builds aren't signed by an Apple developer yet. Fetched from a terminal, a release archive never meets Gatekeeper use x86 64 instead of aarch64 on an Intel Mac : v=0.3.4; curl -L https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/releases/download/v$v/byob-$v-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz | tar xz ./byob-$v-aarch64-apple-darwin/byob Or take byob-…-apple-darwin.dmg and drag byob.app into Applications. Downloaded with a browser, macOS refuses to open it at first: try once, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway on macOS 14 and older, right-click → Open , or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/byob.app . Opened from Finder, byob starts in your home folder and finds your shell's tools Homebrew, Nix . byob desktop window byob --serve + browser UI on http://127.0.0.1:7470 byob --headless browser UI only, no window byob --inference-url http://host:8080/v1 --model local BYOB API KEY=sk-... byob for hosted endpoints byob --workspace ~/projects/taxes start in the workspace for that folder tailscale serve 7470 reach it from any device on your tailnet byob --headless --allow-user you@example.com only admit that Tailscale login On first run byob shows Connect a model : servers it found on this computer's usual ports llama-server 8080, Ollama 11434, LM Studio 1234, vLLM 8000 , presets for those and for hosted APIs, and a Test connection button. Later, the connection lives at the top of Settings or click the status dot in the header . Chats are grouped by workspace . + Workspace makes one a fresh folder or an existing one and picks where commands run. A workspace's … menu and the sliders next to a chat's title show what's inherited and what's set there: model, approvals, tool calling, compaction, subagents, extra instructions. Settings → Plugins lists what the chat in view can use. Any bundled plugin can be forked to your own plugins and edited Fork to edit , or just ask byob to change or write one: it has authoring tools, and a broken plugin's errors come back to the model so it can fix it. - docs/views.md https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/docs/views.md : view trees, the UI plugins draw panes, chips, cards, grids . - docs/plugins-backend.md https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/docs/plugins-backend.md : long-lived backends Python or Rust and hooks. - docs/environments.md https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/docs/environments.md : where commands run, and adding your own. - demos/ https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/demos/README.md : hands-on tours, each in a throwaway profile demos/run.sh todo . - examples/plugins/todo-demo https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/examples/plugins/todo-demo : a small plugin with a backend, a pane and cards to copy from. nix develop or: direnv allow cargo run -p byob launch the app cargo xtask web build the browser UI; the next cargo build embeds it cargo xtask ci full gate: fmt, clippy, tests, layers, no-tokio, wasm nix build release package byob + bundled web UI + the artifact host HTML artifacts inline on the desktop: the Servo helper is its own workspace AGENTS.md §3 cd host/artifact-host && cargo build --release scripts/headless.sh picks it up desktop GUI on a virtual display, scripted, with a screenshot HEADLESS RECORD=x.mp4 records it scripts/headless.sh --inference-url http://localhost:8080/v1 --model local --send "hi" --screenshot /tmp/byob.png scripts/readme-media.sh regenerate this README's pictures live test against a real server BYOB LIVE URL=http://localhost:8080/v1 cargo test -p byob-llm -- --ignored See AGENTS.md https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/AGENTS.md for the rules, docs/architecture.md https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/docs/architecture.md for the design and ROADMAP.md https://github.com/Scronkfinkle/byob/blob/main/ROADMAP.md for what's next. byob began as a rewrite of hob, an earlier desktop coworker that bundled llama.cpp; byob drops the bundled inference. Licensed under MIT OR Apache-2.0.