The open-source AI desktop client for every model
AQBot is a free, open-source AI desktop client. Chat with any provider, hand tasks to agents, ground answers in your own documents, and share your models with coding tools through a local API gateway.
Summarize this week's changes into release notes for users.
Two models answered in parallel
OpenAI gpt-5.5
Highlights: assistants can now bind a default model and candidate models; the gateway starts with the app; the role entry is easier to reach.
DeepSeek deepseek-chat
This week: default and candidate models per assistant, gateway auto-start fixed, and a cleaner model list in chat.
Split the README parser into smaller functions and run the tests.
- Read aqsite/readme.py
- Edit 3 functions
- Run command
pnpm test
$ pnpm test ✓ readme parser (12) ✓ release assets (9) Test Files 2 passed
Tests passed. 3 functions extracted, no behavior changes.
Command denied. The agent stopped and is waiting for instructions.
What drove the increase in support tickets last quarter?
Retrieved from the knowledge base
- 1Q3 support review.pdf0.92
- 2Onboarding survey.md0.81
- 3Release calendar.xlsx0.67
Most new tickets followed the September release, mainly sign-in questions from new users [1][2]. Volume returned to normal after the onboarding guide was updated [3].
127.0.0.1:8080
Compatible endpoints
POST /v1/chat/completionsOpenAI Chat CompletionsPOST /v1/responsesOpenAI ResponsesPOST /v1/messagesClaudePOST /v1beta/models/…Gemini
Recent requests
| claude-code | claude-sonnet | 200 | 1.2s |
| codex | gpt-5.5 | 200 | 0.9s |
| gemini-cli | gemini-pro | 200 | 1.4s |
What you can do with AQBot
One app covers the daily AI work that usually needs several: chatting, delegating, researching and serving models to other tools.
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Chat with any model
Connect OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Compare answers from several models side by side, branch conversations and keep message versions.
Learn more -
Hand work to agents
Switch a chat into Agent mode to read, edit and run code in a folder with per-action approval, or open the ACP workbench to drive Codex, Claude Agent, Gemini CLI and other ACP agents.
Learn more -
Extend with MCP and Skills
Run MCP servers over stdio, SSE or StreamableHTTP, use built-in tools such as @aqbot/fetch, and manage Skills folders for AQBot, Codex, Claude and Agents in one place.
Learn more -
Answer from your documents
Index private files into a local sqlite-vec knowledge base, add web search from Tavily, Exa, Zhipu or Bocha, and attach memories and files to the context.
Learn more -
Serve your models locally
Expose configured providers as OpenAI, Claude and Gemini compatible endpoints, with gateway keys, TLS, request logs and usage stats for tools like Claude Code and Codex CLI.
Learn more -
Keep data on your machine
App state lives in ~/.aqbot and your files in ~/Documents/aqbot. API keys are encrypted with AES-256, and backups go to a local folder, WebDAV or S3-compatible storage.
Learn more
A look inside
Screenshots from the current desktop app. Select a view to enlarge it.
Use AQBot as the backend for your coding tools
Start the gateway once and the coding tools on your machine can reach every model you already configured. Keys, routing and usage stay in one place.
Quick Connect writes the gateway address and key into the configuration of Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI and Cursor. The snippets below are the manual equivalent.
- OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses, Claude and Gemini native formats
- Separate gateway keys, self-signed or custom TLS certificates
- Request logs and token usage by key, provider and day
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8080/v1"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="YOUR_KEY"
claude{
"base_url": "http://localhost:8080/v1",
"api_key": "YOUR_KEY"
}curl http://localhost:8080/v1/models \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"Replace YOUR_KEY with a key generated under API Gateway → Keys. 8080 is the default HTTP port.
Local-first by design
AQBot keeps application state and user files in two predictable folders, so you can inspect, back up or move them with ordinary tools.
- API keys protected with AES-256 and a local master key
- Backups to a local folder, WebDAV or S3-compatible storage
- Import ChatGPT exports, Cherry Studio and Kelivo backups
~/.aqbot/
Database, encryption key, vector store and TLS files
aqbot.dbmaster.keyvector_db/ssl/
~/Documents/aqbot/
Images, attachments and backups you can browse
images/files/backups/
Questions people ask
What is AQBot?
AQBot is a free, open-source desktop AI client for macOS, Windows and Linux. It combines multi-provider chat, agents, MCP tools, local knowledge bases and a local API gateway in one application, and keeps app data and user files on your computer.
Is AQBot free?
Yes. AQBot is free to download and use, and its source code is published on GitHub under the AGPL-3.0 license. You pay only the model providers you choose to connect, or nothing if you run local models.
Which AI providers and models can I use?
AQBot connects to OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including local servers such as Ollama. You can set a custom Base URL, API path, headers and proxy per provider, and import providers from aqbot:// links or CC Switch.
Which operating systems are supported?
macOS on Apple Silicon and Intel, Windows 10 and 11 on x64 and ARM64, and Linux on x64 and ARM64 through AppImage, deb and rpm packages.
Where does AQBot store my data?
Application state such as the database, encryption key and vector store lives in ~/.aqbot. Your images, attachments and backups live in ~/Documents/aqbot. API keys are encrypted with AES-256 using a local master key.
How do I use AQBot with Claude Code, Codex CLI or Gemini CLI?
Start the API gateway in AQBot and generate a gateway key. Quick Connect then writes the address and key into Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI or Cursor for you; manually, Claude Code needs ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/v1 and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN set to the gateway key.