cd /news/ai-agents/stram-an-open-source-local-first-des… · home topics ai-agents article
[ARTICLE · art-83637] src=dev.to ↗ pub= topic=ai-agents verified=true sentiment=· neutral

Stram: An Open-Source, Local-First Desktop Agent With Human Approval Gates

A developer has released Stram, an open-source, local-first desktop agent with human approval gates, designed to act as an always-available assistant that can take safe actions on its own. The agent, named Janus, runs against the user's own model provider key and includes a runtime, desktop app, and release surface, with native macOS and Windows shells available.

read1 min views2 publishedAug 2, 2026

Most "AI agents" I've tried are prompt-first: you type something, they answer, they stop. I wanted something closer to an actual assistant — one that notices what's happening on my machine and decides whether to act, without me opening a chat window first. That's why I built Stram.

Repo: https://github.com/CodeInfinity1/Stram (MIT licensed, v1.0.1) Stram is the runtime, desktop app, and release surface for Janus, the agent that lives inside it. Janus isn't a chatbot waiting for your next message — it's designed to be always-available, context-aware, and able to take the next safe step through governed tools on its own.

The flow looks like this:

\

text

stimulus

-> interaction harness

-> compact local context

-> model-led attention/planning

-> schema-validated tool calls

-> policy and approval gates

-> execution and audit timeline

-> memory, learning, recovery, and response synthesis

``

Broken down:

Everything runs against your own model provider key — OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, local Ollama, whatever you point it at. No hosted backend of mine sits in the loop.

\

bash

git clone https://github.com/CodeInfinity1/Stram.git

cd Stram

python3 -m pip install -e ".[browser,pdf,ocr,office,test]"

python3 -m stram run "system_status {}" --workspace . --planner explicit

``

Or start the local API + dashboard:

\

bash

python3 -m stram serve --workspace . --port 8765 ``

Native macOS (Swift) and Windows (.NET) desktop shells are also available in the repo under apps/\

.

I'd rather be upfront about this than have you find out the hard way:

CONTRIBUTING.md has contribution priorities and PR expectations, SECURITY.md covers the safety model in depth.

Feedback - especially critical feedback, is genuinely welcome in the comments.

── more in #ai-agents 4 stories · sorted by recency
── more on @stram 3 stories trending now
sponsored brought to you by zahid.host 4,200+ EU-deployed projects
reading about agents? ship yours in a single git push.

Run your AI side-project on zahid.host

EU-based hosting, git-push deploys, automatic HTTPS, no cold starts. Free tier with a custom domain — perfect for shipping the agent you just read about.

$git push zahid main
Live at https://your-agent.zahid.host
Get free account → Pricing
from €0/mo · no card required
LIVE [news/stram-an-open-source…] indexed:0 read:1min 2026-08-02 ·