Persistent AI chat
Conversations saved to your database. Folders, bookmarks, renameable titles, and history that survive closing the app — unlike that browser tab you lost during a demo.
Local-first · Business-ready
AI chat that stays
on your infrastructure.
DeskMate is a desktop chat client backed by your own API and database. Ask questions about uploaded documents, talk to colleagues in staff chat, run models locally, and keep conversations where your compliance team can actually find them.
01
What is DeskMate?
DeskMate AI is a local-first business chat platform — an Electron desktop app for day-to-day conversations, paired with a .NET API, PostgreSQL database, and Razor admin UI for the people who have to make it work.
Your team gets a familiar chat experience: AI assistants, document Q&A, and staff rooms. Your organisation keeps control of data, models, and access. No per-seat SaaS bill for the privilege of pasting internal documents into someone else's cloud.
Desktop
Electron + React chat client
API
.NET · JWT auth · streaming responses
Data
PostgreSQL · documents · audit logs
Models
Ollama · OpenAI · Gemini
02
Features
Document Q&A
Upload PDF, TXT, or Markdown files. Type / in chat to attach a document, then ask questions or request a summary. Private by default, or share with everyone. Download the answer when you need it offline.
Staff chat
Real-time rooms for colleagues — including private rooms, invites, archive, and rename. Need a quick fact mid-conversation? Type /ai and get an assistant reply posted back into the room.
Knowledge & tools
Publish knowledge resources the chat can search automatically. Wire up live API tools (GET with placeholders) or read-only SQL against PostgreSQL or MySQL — so answers come from your systems, not a training set that peaked years ago.
Admin panel
Manage users, roles, LLM providers, tools, and knowledge from a web UI. The sort of control panel cloud vendors charge extra for and then hide behind three support tickets.
Streaming responses
Tokens stream to the desktop as they're generated. Cancel with Escape when the model starts writing a novel. No staring at a spinner while the server finishes a paragraph you'll edit anyway.
Your servers
Deploy the API and database on infrastructure you own. Docker-friendly — clone, compose up, run migrations in the container. No host .NET install required for the easy path.
Local models
Point at Ollama on the host for fully local inference. Use OpenAI or Gemini when you need a bigger model — on your terms, with your keys.
Company-ready desktop
Ship a packaged app to staff. On first launch they connect to your server URL — or IT drops in a config file so nobody has to type a hostname before coffee.
03
Why local-first?
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Your data stays yours
Customer records, uploaded contracts, and half-finished strategy decks don't need a round trip through a third-party workspace to get a summary. DeskMate keeps prompts, documents, and history on infrastructure you control.
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Predictable costs
Cloud AI subscriptions add up quickly — especially when everyone in the office discovers "just one more question." Run Ollama locally for routine work and reserve paid APIs for when you actually need them.
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Compliance-friendly
Audit logs, user management, private staff rooms, and on-prem deployment options for organisations that can't put "we pasted it into ChatGPT" in the risk register.
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No vendor lock-in theatre
Switch models, providers, or hosting without migrating a year's worth of threads from a proprietary workspace. It's your database. Standard PostgreSQL.
04
Built for teams
DeskMate is designed for small and mid-sized teams who want AI assistance without handing the keys to someone else's platform. Developers get a proper API. Admins get a proper panel. Everyone else gets chat, documents, and staff rooms — without a PhD in prompt engineering.
The stack is straightforward: clone the repo, start Docker, apply migrations inside the API container, and point the desktop app at your server. From there, add users, documents, knowledge, and tools at your own pace. Staff install the desktop app, connect once to your domain, and log in.
Ready to keep AI on your side of the firewall?
Download from BitbucketDeskMate ships alongside Terminal AI from The Great Unwashed. Same company. Different audience. Fewer jokes about Skynet.