A personal AI operating layer that runs locally on your Mac or a $10/month VPS. No cloud subscriptions. No data leaving your hardware. Full agent capabilities.
Get your mom set up in 15 minutes with a free Google API key.
Why CARAPACE
Context tracking means you can switch between your VPS and your Mac and the AI doesn't get lost. It stays on task, tracks projects, remembers decisions. Work on your server, review on your laptop — same brain, zero re-explaining.
No $20/month ChatGPT. No $200/month enterprise tiers. A cheap VPS plus a free Google API key gives you a full-featured AI assistant with web search, browser control, code execution, cron jobs, and multi-agent orchestration.
Point your phone camera at anything. Medical imaging, documents, receipts, error messages on a screen — your AI sees it and responds. Live camera feed on iOS, photo upload everywhere.
Power users get headless Linux on a VPS with SSH and cron jobs. Your parents get a Mac app with a guided setup wizard that installs everything automatically. Same platform, different entry points.
This isn't a chat wrapper. It's a full agent runtime with real capabilities.
Platforms
Ventura and later
Headless / VPS
curl -fsSL https://carapace.info/install.sh | bash
iPhone companion
Features
Point your camera at anything. Your AI sees it in real time. Read labels, analyze documents, identify parts, interpret X-rays — whatever's in front of you.
Full hands-free voice interface. Talk naturally while driving, cooking, or working. Vision hits Gemini Flash first — fast and cheap — and only escalates to your full agent when it needs to.
Watch your agents think in real-time. Monitor token usage, subagent trees, active sessions. Kill runaway processes with a tap.
Track workstreams, completion percentages, and scheduled jobs in one view. See what's running in the background without opening a terminal.
Encrypted end-to-end. No cloud relay, no data leaves your mesh. Pair via QR code, connect over Tailscale or direct TLS. Your conversations never touch a third-party server.
Run gateways on your Mac, a VPS, and a Pi. Switch between them with one tap. Saved profiles, zero reconfiguration. One app controls your entire mesh.
Pricing
No subscriptions. No usage limits. No cloud fees. Just the app and your own hardware.
Mac + Linux
Mac
Mac
Getting Started
Download the Mac app or run the one-liner on your VPS. The Mac wizard handles OpenClaw + Tailscale setup automatically.
Paste a free Google Gemini key or any supported provider. Your key, your models, your cost control.
Chat, send photos, run agents, schedule cron jobs. Pair your iPhone for on-the-go access anywhere on your mesh.
Download CARAPACE and have a private AI assistant running on your own hardware in minutes.
curl -fsSL https://carapace.info/install.sh | bash