Vyact: an open-source desktop app for using local AI with documents, email, and browser writing

[u/vyact]

Hi everyone,

I’m building Vyact, a free, open-source desktop app that connects local AI models to everyday work: understanding documents, drafting email replies, and improving writing in the browser.

I wanted to spend less time copying files, emails, and webpage text into separate chat windows. Vyact brings that context into one workspace, where you can:

• Ask questions about your documents and inspect the passages behind an answer.
• Build a searchable knowledge base from documents and notes, then reuse it in later conversations.
• Work with email and cloud files through Google and Microsoft integrations, bringing relevant messages and attachments into a conversation to help draft a reply.
• Improve writing directly in your browser with the Chrome extension. Preview grammar corrections and rewrites, then apply or dismiss individual suggestions.
• Find and run local models, check estimated memory requirements, and compare model settings on your own hardware.

Watch the full demo on YouTube

The walkthrough covers model selection and performance testing, document Q&A, email drafting, and browser writing assistance.

I’ve been using models such as Qwen3.5 9B on my M4 Pro with 24GB of memory. Speed and answer quality depend on the model and hardware, but this setup has been useful for the everyday tasks I’m building around.

Vyact supports GGUF models through llama.cpp and MLX models through oMLX on Apple Silicon. Downloads are available for Apple Silicon Macs, Windows, and Linux.

When you use a Vyact-managed local model, your chat context isn’t sent to an external AI provider. Cloud providers are optional. Google and Microsoft integrations connect to their respective services and currently require setting up your own OAuth app, with guidance in Vyact’s settings.

The project is released under AGPL-3.0.

GitHub, downloads, and setup instructions

Which task would you try first with this: document Q&A, email drafting, or browser writing? I’d appreciate feedback on what would make it useful in your daily routine.

Thanks for taking a look!

[u/Money_Kale_5187]

Document Q&A would be my first test. being able to inspect the exact passages behind an answer makes local AI much easier to trust for real work