Frigade · 2026-10-26 · notable
Hob — open-source desktop AI coworker that runs models on your own computer
Hob is a free, MIT-licensed desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux that works on your files like the Claude and ChatGPT apps, but runs open-weight models such as Gemma 4 and gpt-oss locally and offline.
A private AI assistant that charts spreadsheets, fills PDFs and runs code on your files without sending them to a cloud.
What is it?
Hob is an open-source desktop AI coworker from Frigade, launched on Show HN with its first tagged release, v0.2.0, on October 26, 2026. Like the Claude and ChatGPT desktop apps, it reads the files and folders you give it, plans the steps and hands back finished work, but the model runs on your own machine and chats stay local.
How does it work?
On first install the app checks the hardware and downloads a fitting open-weight model, Gemma 4 for most computers or gpt-oss 120B for workstations, and runs it through llama.cpp in a separate process. Code runs in a sandbox that can only write to the chat's folder, a small Qwen3-VL model reads images, a local Whisper model handles dictation, and connectors reach any MCP server.
Why does it matter?
People who cannot upload work files to a cloud assistant get the same agent-style workflow on a laptop, with no account or subscription. The author notes on HN that getting small models to call tools reliably was the hardest part, and that guardrails in code worked better than prompt tweaks.
Who is it for?
privacy-minded users and teams who want a local AI assistant
Try it
https://github.com/FrigadeHQ/hob/releases/latest