row-bot

Row-Bot is a local-first desktop AI assistant for doing real work with models, memory and tools. You talk to it in conversations; it remembers what matters in a local knowledge graph, works in the files, code folders, designs, workflows and channels you give it, delegates to focused agents, and asks before anything risky. It runs local models through Ollama, provider API keys, ChatGPT, Claude or Grok subscriptions, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and keeps your data on your machine. One React app serves the desktop window, browsers, phones and server mode.

Features

• Conversations that do the work - ask for a deck, an app or a report and Row-Bot creates the design or code folder and keeps working in it; setup cards turn on a missing tool or connect an app in place.
• Goals and agents - goals that keep going until done and pause when they stop making progress; delegated agents with their own conversations, Stop and Message; reusable agent profiles.
• Approvals wherever you are - risky actions wait for Approve or Deny in the conversation, on Home, in the attention indicator, in Buddy or on a connected channel.
• Memory and knowledge - a personal knowledge graph with recall, review, Dream Cycle refinement, documents, and an Obsidian-compatible wiki vault.
• Design and code panels - decks, documents and mockups with Present, Review, export (PDF, HTML, PNG, PPTX) and publish; code folders with changes, files, Git, pull requests, checks, an interactive terminal and an optional Docker sandbox.
• Workflows - scheduled, webhook and chained runs with approvals, delivery to channels and run history.
• Apps and skills - connect services such as GitHub, Notion, Linear or Stripe from one catalog in about a minute (sign in, paste a key, or run a program on this computer), choose what each may do, and switch apps per chat with + › Apps or an @mention; add skills from featured catalogs and use them with their /name.
• Tools - web search, files, shell, managed browser, opt-in Computer Use on Windows and macOS, Gmail and Calendar, image and video generation, and custom tools.
• Channels and voice - Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack and SMS; dictation, Talk and read-aloud with local Whisper or SenseVoice and Kokoro.
• Monitor with fixes - health checks that run by themselves, with one fix per problem, and Insights that suggest improvements.
• Devices and remote access - connect a phone or another computer with a QR code over Tailscale, your Wi-Fi or a public link; a Buddy desktop overlay on Windows and macOS; backup and restore of your profile.

Platforms

Ollama is optional, for local models only. System requirements are in the installation guide.

Install

Download the Windows installer or the macOS DMG from GitHub Releases and run it. On Windows it installs for your account only, without administrator rights or questions, and opens Row-Bot when it finishes; on macOS, drag Row-Bot to Applications.

On Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/siddsachar/row-bot/main/installer/install-linux.sh | bash
# or a specific published release (replace X.Y.Z):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/siddsachar/row-bot/main/installer/install-linux.sh | bash -s -- X.Y.Z

The installer takes the latest release by default, verifies the tarball's SHA-256, installs under ~/.local/share/row-bot and creates ~/.local/bin/row-bot.

With Docker, from a checkout of this repository (pin X.Y.Z to a release with a published container):

export ROW_BOT_IMAGE=ghcr.io/siddsachar/row-bot:X.Y.Z
docker compose -f deploy/docker/compose.yaml up --detach
docker compose -f deploy/docker/compose.yaml exec row-bot \
  row-bot access invite --layout desktop --origin http://127.0.0.1:8080

Read Docker and VPS operations before exposing it beyond loopback.

Updates

Installed Row-Bot keeps itself up to date: about once a day it checks GitHub, downloads only what changed in the background, checks every file, and shows Restart to update when the new version is ready (otherwise it installs the next time you quit). If a new version doesn't start, Row-Bot goes back to the previous one by itself, and Settings › Updates can go back on request. Turn background checks or downloads off in Settings › Updates. Docker installs are updated by pulling a newer image. Your data is never touched. See Updates.

Upgrading from 5.1? It updates to 5.2 once with the full installer. On Windows, 5.2 moves Row-Bot from Program Files to your account and asks once for administrator approval to remove the old copy; on macOS, drag Row-Bot to Applications one last time; Linux needs nothing.

Upgrading from 5.0? Your MCP servers, plugins, skills, accounts and channels carry over to Settings › Apps and Skills; the v5.1.0 release notes say what moved.

Upgrading from 4.x? Read the v5.0.0 release notes first: the old NiceGUI interface is gone and several places moved. Users still on Thoth or an early Row-Bot build should first run a previous migration-capable Row-Bot release.

From source

You need Python 3.12 or 3.13, uv, Git, and Node.js 24.15+ with npm 11 to build the client.

git clone https://github.com/siddsachar/row-bot.git
cd row-bot
python -m pip install "uv>=0.7,<1.0"
uv sync --locked --all-extras --group test
cd frontend && npm ci --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-fund && npm run build && cd ..
uv run python launcher.py

launcher.py starts the tray and opens the app at http://localhost:8080/app-v2/ (the next free port if 8080 is busy); on Linux it opens your browser. Starting it again while it runs shows the running app. Other entry points:

uv run python launcher.py serve --port 8080   # authenticated headless server
uv run python app.py                          # server only, no tray or window

Dependency changes go through pyproject.toml and uv.lock; never edit requirements.txt by hand (see AGENTS.md).

Quick start

1. On first launch Row-Bot asks How should Row-Bot think?: on this computer (Ollama), with your subscription (ChatGPT, Claude or Grok), with an API key, or with a custom endpoint. Your pick becomes the default model, a short test runs, and Home opens.
2. Start a conversation and ask for what you need, for example Create a six-slide pitch deck for my startup, Review this repo and suggest the highest-risk issues, Remember that my mom's birthday is March 15 or Remind me to call the dentist tomorrow at 9am.
3. Press Ctrl+K (⌘K on macOS) to find conversations, commands and settings by plain words, such as "connect telegram" or "dark mode".
4. Setup Center (Continue setup on Overview, or search for it with Ctrl+K) walks through the rest: knowledge, workflows, designs, code, apps, skills, tools and voice.

The first launch guide covers each path.

Configuration and data

• Data folder: ~/.row-bot (%USERPROFILE%\.row-bot on Windows), or the folder in ROW_BOT_DATA_DIR. It holds conversations, memory, workflows, settings and logs (row_bot_app.log and logs/row_bot.log).
• Workspace folder: ~/Documents/Row-Bot by default, where file tools, exports and backups go; change it in Settings › System.
• Secrets: provider keys and sign-ins are stored in Windows Credential Manager, the macOS Keychain or Linux Secret Service/KWallet; Docker uses encrypted records with a separate key volume. JSON settings hold metadata only.
• Backups: Settings › Data › Back up now makes a zip without secrets.
• Reference: models and providers, environment and configuration, data storage and command-line options.

Remote access and server mode

Row-Bot is a single-owner, multi-device application: one owner can use the same instance from several