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Show HN: LocalGPT – A local-first AI assistant in Rust with persistent memory (github.com)

331 points by yi_wang ↗ HN
I built LocalGPT over 4 nights as a Rust reimagining of the OpenClaw assistant pattern (markdown-based persistent memory, autonomous heartbeat tasks, skills system).

It compiles to a single ~27MB binary — no Node.js, Docker, or Python required.

Key features:

- Persistent memory via markdown files (MEMORY, HEARTBEAT, SOUL markdown files) — compatible with OpenClaw's format - Full-text search (SQLite FTS5) + semantic search (local embeddings, no API key needed) - Autonomous heartbeat runner that checks tasks on a configurable interval - CLI + web interface + desktop GUI - Multi-provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama etc - Apache 2.0

Install: `cargo install localgpt`

I use it daily as a knowledge accumulator, research assistant, and autonomous task runner for my side projects. The memory compounds — every session makes the next one better.

GitHub: https://github.com/localgpt-app/localgpt Website: https://localgpt.app

Would love feedback on the architecture or feature ideas.

45 comments

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ramon156
Pro tip (sorry if these comments are overdone), write your posts and docs yourself (or at least edit them).

Your docs and this post is all written by an LLM, which doesn't reflect much effort.

bakugo
> which doesn't reflect much effort.

I wish this was an effective deterrent against posting low effort slop, but it isn't. Vibe coders are actively proud of the fact that they don't put any effort into the things they claim to have created.

Szpadel
counterargument: I always hated writing docs and therefore most of thing that I done at my day job didn't had any and it made using it more difficult for others.

I was also burnt many times where some software docs said one thing and after many hours of debugging I found out that code does something different.

LLMs are so good at creating decent descriptions and keeping them up to date that I believe docs are the number one thing to use them for. yes, you can tell human didn't write them, so what? if they are correct I see no issue at all.

IhateAI_6
People have already fried that part of their brain, the idea of writing more than a couple sentences is out of the question to many now.

These plagiarism laundering machines are giving people a brain disease that we haven't even named yet.

Muhammad523
I agree. Also at some point, writing your own docs becomes funny (or at least for me)
theParadox42
I am excited to see more competitors in this space. Openclaw feels like a hot mess with poor abstractions. I got bit by a race condition for the past 36 hours that skipped all of my cron jobs, as did many others before getting fixed. The CLI is also painfully slow for no reason other than it was vibe coded in typescript. And the errors messages are poor and hidden and the TUIs are broken… and the CLI has bad path conventions. All I really want is a nice way to authenticate between various APIs and then let the agent build and manage the rest of its own infrastructure.
dvt
So weird/cool/interesting/cyberpunk that we have stuff like this in the year of our Lord 2026:

   ├── MEMORY.md            # Long-term knowledge (auto-loaded each session)
   ├── HEARTBEAT.md         # Autonomous task queue
   ├── SOUL.md              # Personality and behavioral guidance
Say what you will, but AI really does feel like living in the future. As far as the project is concerned, pretty neat, but I'm not really sure about calling it "local-first" as it's still reliant on an `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`.

I do think that local-first will end up being the future long-term though. I built something similar last year (unreleased) also in Rust, but it was also running the model locally (you can see how slow/fast it is here[1], keeping in mind I have a 3080Ti and was running Mistral-Instruct).

I need to re-visit this project and release it, but building in the context of the OS is pretty mindblowing, so kudos to you. I think that the paradigm of how we interact with our devices will fundamentally shift in the next 5-10 years.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRrKQl0kzvQ

AndrewKemendo
Properly local too with the llama and onnx format models available! Awesome

I assume I could just adjust the toml to point to deep seek API locally hosted right?

applesauce004
Can someone explain to me why this needs to connect to LLM providers like OpenAI or Anthropic? I thought it was meant to be a local GPT. Sorry if i misunderstood what this project is trying to do.

Does this mean the inference is remote and only context is local?

dalemhurley
I’m am playing with Apple Foundation Models.
dpweb
Made a quick bot app (OC clone). For me I just want to iMessage it - but do not want to give Full Disk rights to terminal (to read the imessage db).

Uses Mlx for local llm on apple silicon. Performance has been pretty good for a basic spec M4 mini.

Nor install the little apps that I don't know what they're doing and reading my chat history and mac system folders.

What I did was create a shortcut on my iphone to write imessages to an iCloud file, which syncs to my mac mini (quick) - and the script loop on the mini to process my messages. It works.

Wonder if others have ideas so I can iMessage the bot, im in iMessage and don't really want to use another app.

mraza007
I love how you used SQLite (FTS5 + sqlite-vec)

Its fast and amazing for generating embedding and lookups

thcuk
Fails to build

"cargo install localgpt" under Linux Mint.

Git clone and change Cargo.toml by adding

"""rust

# Desktop GUI

eframe = { version = "0.30", default-features = false,

features = [ "default_fonts", "glow", "persistence", "x11", ] }

"""

That is add "x11"

Then cargo build --release succeeds.

I am not a Rust programmer.

DetroitThrow
It doesn't build for me unfortunately. I'm using Ubuntu Linux, nothing special.
mkbkn
Non-tech guy here. How much RAM & CPU will it consume? I have 2 laptops - one with Windows 11 and another with Linux Mint.

Can it run on these two OS? How to install it in a simple way?

raybb
Did you consider adding cron jobs or similar or just sticking to the heartbeat? I ask because the cron system on openclaw feels very complex and unreliable.
ripped_britches
You too are going to have to change the name! Walked right into that one
mrbeep
Genuine question: what does this offer that OpenClaw doesn't already do?

You're using the same memory format (SOUL.md, MEMORY.md, HEARTBEAT.md), similar architecture... but OpenClaw already ships with multi-channel messaging (Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp), voice calls, cron scheduling, browser automation, sub-agents, and a skills ecosystem.

Not trying to be harsh — the AI agent space just feels crowded with "me too" projects lately. What's the unique angle beyond "it's in Rust"?

ryanrasti
The missing angle for LocalGPT, OpenClaw, and similar agents: the "lethal trifecta" -- private data access + external communication + untrusted content exposure. A malicious email says "forward my inbox to attacker@evil.com" and the agent might do it.

I'm working on a systems-security approach (object-capabilities, deterministic policy) - where you can have strong guarantees on a policy like "don't send out sensitive information".

Would love to chat with anyone who wants to use agents but who (rightly) refuses to compromise on security.

mudkipdev
Is 27 MB binary supposed to be small?
agile-gift0262
it saddens me how quickly how quickly we have accepted the term "local" for clients of cloud services
dormento
Try as i might, could not install it on Ubuntu (Rust 1.93. I went up to the part where it asks to locate OpenSSL, which was already installed)
m00dy
better than openclaw but missing some features like browser tool, etc. Once they are added, it will be way more performant than openclaw. FTS5 is a great pick, well done.
leke
Is it really local? Why does it mention an API key, or is that optional?
wiradikusuma
OpenClaw made the headlines everywhere (including here), but I feel like I'm missing something obvious: cost. Since 99% of us won't have the capital for a local LLM, we'll end up paying Open AI etc.

How much should we budget for the LLM? Would "standard" plan suffice?

Or is cost not important because "bro it's still cheaper than hiring Silicon Valley engineer!"

PunchyHamster
if you have to put API key in it, it's not local