ivx/ai Chat — a lightweight, browser-based chat client

ivx/ai Chat

2 min read Original article ↗

Free and Open Source

No backend, no accounts, no analytics and zero telemetry. A pure frontend that talks to your chosen model directly, so your conversations and API keys never pass through a third party server and stay entirely within your browser.

$ brew tap ivxlabs/tap
$ brew trust ivxlabs/tap
$ brew install --cask ivxai-chat

ivx/ai Chat ai.ivx.run/chat

01privacy

Private by default

  • No telemetry. Nothing phones home, not even an error report.
  • No training. Nothing is used to improve any model.*
  • Easy to install. One command on macOS, installers for Windows and Linux.
  • Encryption supported. API keys can sit encrypted under your own passphrase.

* you bring your own AI models, so there is nothing of ours to train on.

02providers

Supported Providers

If you believe any provider is missing, create an issue in the GitHub repo.

03features

What it does, and what's coming

available now

  • Support for multiple providers
  • Easy to use
  • Clean UI
  • Native apps for macOS, Windows and Linux
  • Lightweight, and usable directly over a browser
  • WebLLM inference, via MLC
  • Share chats anonymously
  • Chrome and Firefox extensions

planned

  • Sync with multiple cloud services
  • MCP support
  • Tools
  • A store for connectors and skills
  • Chat organization

01

In the browser

Choose Install / Add to Home Screen to keep it as an app; after the first load it works offline.

ai.ivx.run/chat

Some providers refuse calls made from a browser, so the web version goes through the bridge: brew install ivx-bridge. Not on macOS? Download it from Releases.

02

The desktop app

The same UI in a native window, with the same bridge running inside it. Nothing to configure.

$ brew tap ivxlabs/tap
$ brew trust ivxlabs/tap
$ brew install --cask ivxai-chat

03

From source

The desktop app and the bridge. You need Rust, Node and the Tauri prerequisites; the web UI arrives as a submodule.

$ git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/ivxlabs/ivxai-app
$ cd ivxai-app && npm install
$ npm run build

Windows and Linux: take the installer from Releases. Nothing is notarised or signed with a paid certificate, so Gatekeeper and SmartScreen both object on first launch — the release notes say how to get past it.

No ads, no telemetry, no paid tier.

Contributions are welcome, from code to docs to bug reports. Questions and discussion happen on Discord.