Ardur

Open-source desktop bots that run on your own AI subscriptions and keys.

Ardur gives you named bots that keep their memory, talk to each other in group chats, run routines on a schedule, use connectors, and ask before doing anything consequential. Each bot is pinned to a provider, model and effort level you choose: a review bot that always uses your ChatGPT account at xhigh effort, a research bot on Kimi, a local bot on Ollama. Bots work on computers you control: your machine, Docker, and (planned) Podman and Kubernetes.

Ardur is an independently maintained fork; see NOTICE for its upstream origin and Apache-2.0 attribution.

Status: alpha. Everything lands on the dev branch; main moves only after a human has verified a build. macOS previews are signed and notarized when release credentials exist; check the release assets before choosing an installer. Running from source remains available.

What you get today

• Command-line tool: Send a bot a task from your terminal or a script.

• Persistent bots with their own conversation, memory, routines and history

• Group chats: an unaddressed message goes to one responder, shown before sending. Mention bots or use @everyone for multiple replies. Selected members answer together up to the room limit (default 4, adjustable 1-8); the rest stay visibly queued. Bots can delegate to each other or use short-lived subagents.

• Chief room receipts: accepted requests get a saved acknowledgement before execution; bare greetings do not start work. Member choices use approved facts and committed dispatch stays compact.

• A provider, model and thinking level per bot, with a separate model and thinking choice for each bot in a group room

• Providers: OpenRouter, OpenAI Codex (ChatGPT account), Anthropic (API key), OpenAI, Google, Vercel AI Gateway, and 37 more in the searchable model catalog. OpenAI-compatible servers cover local Ollama, LM Studio and llama.cpp. Planned additions include Claude Pro/Max through the CLI.

• Computers: the computer Ardur is installed on, plus Docker, Podman, Kubernetes or SSH machines you add, and E2B, Daytona or Box on a server, with a browser, terminal, files and a graphical desktop. Test, edit, and remove saved computer connections in Settings (where bots run).
• Ordinary bot settings show execution location, access and sharing on desktop and phone. New isolated work chooses a dedicated container when configured, otherwise offers setup; it never silently substitutes the host. Existing bots keep their computer pins.
• Connectors: MCP servers, OpenAPI documents, Composio, Pipedream Connect
• Approvals before consequential actions, voice mode, and web, Electron desktop and Expo mobile clients of the same API
• Bot decision evidence: space owners can opt in to signed decision records. Members can inspect run verification and download sealed evidence for visible runs to check independently. Evidence is not encrypted and does not prove tool execution or completeness.

Experimental Antigravity text conversations can run on a connected host computer with an exact model pin; see Antigravity runtime.

Experimental Hermes runs on this computer in desktop local mode and the dev stack, or on a paired macOS or Linux host, with a pinned install. Windows isn't supported; see Hermes runtime.

Memory

What is stored where

The built-in database is the default document store. Git repository storage holds a space's shared notes and their revision history; personal and bot-private documents stay in the database. A selected local memory folder can hold space-shared documents and the connected owner's documents.

Connect a repository

Open Settings → Memory → Memory storage → Manage → Git repository. Connect a dedicated empty repository, supply a repository token or deploy key, and choose its branch. Choose Publish directly to push to that branch, or Propose on a branch to send changes to a proposal branch for review. Test the connection and preview the move before using the location.

Work offline and resolve conflicts

After setup, a shared-note save creates a local Git commit before background synchronization is queued. If the repository is unreachable, the last local copy remains available while Ardur's server and storage are available. The background worker retries synchronization, and a failed sync offers Retry. When shared edits conflict, Ardur keeps both versions and their revision histories.

Edit a note in GitHub

After synchronization, shared notes are Markdown files in the connected repository, with revisions in its history. Edit an existing note's body in a Git checkout or on GitHub, keep its frontmatter, and commit the change. Ardur incorporates the edit on its next fetch of that branch.

Where it is going

• Subscription-honest providers: Claude Pro/Max through your own unmodified claude CLI, Codex through OpenAI's documented integration, Kimi and Z.ai coding plans, Gemini with an API key
• Computers on Podman and kind/Kubernetes
• Signed macOS releases once release credentials are provisioned
• A fast, smooth UI on Windows, macOS and Linux

Roadmap and questions live in Discussions.

Install a desktop preview

Download your OS and architecture from GitHub pre-releases. Release notes say whether macOS builds are signed and notarized. Without release credentials, the preview is not signed by an identified developer; use the first-open steps below. Only approve a download you trust from the official release page.

• macOS: open the arm64 DMG for Apple Silicon or x64 DMG for Intel, drag Ardur.app into Applications, and eject the DMG. The ZIP contains the same app for manual installation. Without an identified developer, Gatekeeper can say the developer cannot be verified or the app cannot be checked for malicious software. Updates show “A new version is available — download”; download the next DMG and replace the app manually.
• Windows: run the x64 NSIS .exe. SmartScreen may show “Windows protected your PC” and an unknown publisher.
• Linux: download the matching AppImage, or the .deb on Debian/Ubuntu. Linux commonly requires the executable permission rather than displaying a SmartScreen-style publisher prompt.

To open the app the first time:

macOS

• For a release marked “Signed and notarized for macOS”, open the app normally.

• Otherwise, try to open the app once. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to the message about Ardur, and choose Open Anyway.

• Enter your password when asked, then choose “Open”.

• Or remove the download's quarantine flag in Terminal.

  xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Ardur.app

• Then open the app.

  open "/Applications/Ardur.app"

Windows

• If “Windows protected your PC” appears, choose “More info”, then “Run anyway”.
• Finish the installer.

Linux

• Make the AppImage executable, then open it.

  chmod +x ./ardur-*.AppImage

• On Debian or Ubuntu, you can install the deb instead.

  sudo apt install ./ardur-*.deb

• After installing the deb, check that it runs.

  ardur --version

Approving quarantine does not add a developer signature or notarization. Managed Windows computers may disallow the SmartScreen override, and no trusted publisher identity is asserted. Some Linux distributions require FUSE support for AppImages, and a standalone deb has no distribution-repository trust guarantee.

This computer starts the app's own database and services. Docker is not required for that first launch. You can still connect the client to an existing server. See what commands can do on this computer. For bounded coordinator work in a group, see team goals. Docker remains available later as an added computer, and Compose remains the way to run a server. Previews use manual downloads for updates on every OS.

Install the same preview with Homebrew:

brew tap ArdurAI/tap
brew trust --cask ArdurAI/tap/ardur
brew install --cask ArdurAI/tap/ardur

Current Homebrew requires the trust step before it loads a third-party cask; Homebrew releases without the trust command can skip it. For previews without an identified developer, choose Open Anyway in Privacy & Security, or use brew install --cask --no-quarantine ArdurAI/tap/ardur. The install script removes the app's download quarantine flag after copying it. See desktop releases for build and acceptance instructions.

Run from source

You need Node.js 22.22.2 or newer in the 22.x line, Node.js 24.x, or Node.js 26+; pnpm 9; and Docker. Node.js 23.x and 25.x are not supported.

git clone https://github.com/ArdurAI/ardur-bot.git
cd ardur-bot
cp .env.example .env

In .env, set POSTGRES_PASSWORD to a random value (for example, openssl rand -hex 16) and put the same value in DATABASE_URL. Set BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, ENCRYPTION_KEY, SCREEN_PROXY_SECRET and SANDBOX_SUPERVISOR_TOKEN to separate long random values (for example, openssl rand -hex 32). Add model credentials in the app or set OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

docker compose --env-file .env \
  -f infra/compose/docker-compose.yml \
  -f infra/compose/docker-compose.postgres-host.yml \
  up postgres -d
pnpm install
pnpm db:generate
pnpm db:migrate
pnpm dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:5173, create an account, connect a model, and create your first bot. Local Docker computers are on by default. The first Docker bot downloads its computer image when no local build exists. The organization owner must make the GHCR computer package public for that download; pnpm build:computers builds a local fallback.

Postgres stays network-internal in the default Compose file; the postgres-host overlay publishes loopback 127.0.0.1:5433 for host-side pnpm and database tools. docker compose down -v deletes all Postgres state.

Desktop app

The Electron app is a client of the same API as the web app. With the development stack running:

pnpm --filter @ardurbot/desktop dev

On first run it starts its own database and services on this computer; its setup window can connect it to an existing server instead.

Development

pnpm check   # TypeScript across the monorepo
pnpm lint    # Biome lint and format
pnpm test    # offline unit tests, no keys needed

More checks and the branch policy are in CONTRIBUTING.md. Design notes are under docs/ where present, including the command-line guide. Decisions are under docs/decisions/.

Community

• Website: bot.ardur.ai
• Bugs and feature requests: Issues
• Questions, ideas, roadmap: Discussions
• Security reports: SECURITY.md

License

Apache-2.0; see LICENSE and NOTICE.