LocalBrainAn AI context layer that lives in your files.
Your notes and transcripts stay linked and current on their own. No hand-filing, no frontmatter, nothing leaves your machine.
From raw input to context, without the busywork.
Most knowledge systems break between capture and recall. LocalBrain closes that gap on its own, in the background.
Drop in anything
Notes, meeting transcripts, quick captures, and whatever else already sits in the folder.
It finds the structure
Decisions, action items, and people get pulled out and written up per project. You do not tag any of it.
It shows up when you need it
Start your day on a brief of open loops and recent decisions, instead of an empty search box.
Ask across everything
Chat with the whole folder, with the context already loaded so you are not pasting files into a prompt.
A context engine, not another notes app.
You do not need another place to put things. You need what is already in them to stay connected and current. That is the part LocalBrain does.
Compiled context that compounds
For every project and person, LocalBrain keeps a living page of decisions, open loops, and related notes. The longer you use it, the sharper it gets.
## Decisions
Ship the v1 beta on Friday
Cut team workspaces from launch scope
## Open loops
Maya to finalize onboarding copy
Devin to migrate the search index
Transcripts become knowledge
Paste a meeting transcript, get structured frontmatter.
decisions: 2
action_items: 3
AI edits you can audit
Every automated change is journaled with a plain summary and a confidence level, and one click reverts it.
Set type, tags, summary / Revert
Retrieval that surfaces the right note
Exact search stays first class. On top, related notes surface by links and content, so nothing gets lost.
Yours, offline, forever
Plain files on your disk, in the formats they already are. No account, no cloud sync, no lock-in. It installs and runs fully offline.
Projects/ People/ Daily/
.memory/context/
Your whole project, not just your notes.
Most markdown apps only show .md files. LocalBrain shows everything in your folder, so your work lives in one place.
Not just markdown
Point it at a real project folder and see all of it: PDFs, spreadsheets, code, images, and data, right beside your notes. You manage the whole project in the app instead of hopping between it, Finder, and everything else.
See the shape of your work
Every file becomes a node in a force-directed graph. Filter by type, watch what is going stale, let AI suggest links between related notes, and hover any node to see its details or open it. It turns a folder into a map.
The AI knowledge system you can actually leave running.
Silent edits are the reason people do not let AI near their notes. LocalBrain writes in the open. Every change is snapshotted, explained, and reversible, and you can mark any file or folder off limits.
Own your AI memory.
An installable, offline interface over a folder of your files. The source of truth is yours, in a format that outlives any single tool or model.
- 01Open formats, every file typeYour notes stay markdown and YAML. The CSVs, PDFs, images, and code sitting beside them stay exactly what they are, readable in any editor.
- 02Direct file accessOpens a local folder in your browser and saves straight to disk. No upload step.
- 03Bring your own keyUse your own Anthropic key. Model choice stays yours, and features degrade gracefully without one.
- 04Installable and offlineAdd it to your dock as a PWA. Your notes work with no connection at all.
Questions, answered.
What is an AI context layer? +
It is a layer that sits between your raw notes and your AI tools. Instead of feeding a model isolated files, it compiles your notes into structured, current context: who is involved, what was decided, and what is still open. LocalBrain builds that layer from a local folder of markdown files.
Is LocalBrain really local-first and offline? +
Yes. Your files live on your machine and open directly in the browser through the File System Access API. There is no server, no account, and no cloud sync. Once installed, it works with no connection. AI features call your chosen model when you use them, and everything else runs offline.
Does it lock me into a proprietary format? +
No. Your notes are plain markdown with YAML frontmatter, and compiled context pages are ordinary .md files too. Every other file in the folder stays in its own format: a CSV is still a CSV, a PDF is still a PDF. Nothing gets converted or wrapped. You can read, edit, or move the whole folder to another tool at any time. Low switching cost is the point.
How does it turn transcripts into notes? +
When LocalBrain detects a transcript, by filename or by its speaker and timestamp shape, it extracts participants, decisions, and action items into the note's frontmatter. It does not rewrite the transcript body, and those extracted fields then feed the compiled context pages.
Can I trust the AI not to silently change my files? +
Every autonomous change is recorded in an activity journal with a plain summary and a confidence level, and any change reverts in one click. You can also mark files or folders as protected so the AI never touches them. Nothing happens that you cannot see and undo.
Which browsers are supported? +
Full functionality needs the File System Access API, available in Chrome and Edge on desktop. Other browsers can view the interface but cannot open a local vault.
Give your AI a memory you own.
Open a folder and watch it become a context engine. Free, local, and yours.
Open LocalBrain