All the power of the terminal agents, none of the terminal.
Skales installs like an app and runs on your computer, not in someone's cloud:
183 tools, background goals, code, email and media.
Start instantly with Skales IQ, the free built-in trial, no API key. Or bring any model:
Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok or fully local via Ollama.
Installed in 30 seconds. Free for personal use.
No cloud · No terminal · No signup · No subscription · Source-available on
GitHub
/goalplan my week and book the meetings
Type a goal. Skales runs it on its own - across as many steps as it takes, even with the chat closed.
1,039GitHub stars
14K+installs worldwide
183built-in tools
12languages
100%local & private
Every AI assistant lives in someone else's cloud.
Your questions. Your files. Their servers.
Skales lives on yours.
Local models via OllamaOr your own API keysNo account. Ever.
Not a chatbot. A worker.
Skales · your model · local
On it. Checking Trattoria da Luigi availability and preparing the booking.
A real plan with success criteria - visible, editable, yours.
03 · It works. You close the chat.
Browsing, extracting, writing files - in the background
Multiple goals run in parallel. Schedules repeat them. The app keeps going.
04 · It asks before anything risky
Approve / Decline - right in the chat or on your phone
Approval gates and a killswitch are on by default. You stay the boss.
05 · Done - and remembered
comparison-sheet.xlsx saved. Lessons folded into Memory.
Every finished goal makes the next one start ahead.
Goals, Workflows, schedules, an OODA self-correction loop and approval gates -
see the autonomy stack →
02Desktop Buddy
The most-used feature is alive.
A little companion lives on your screen - Skales the gecko,
Bubbles the blob or Capy the capybara.
It is a full agent: ask it something and it works through
every step - files, web, email, calendar - with Approve / Decline right in its
speech bubble. It speaks your language, remembers you, and streams live progress while it works.
Want a different look? Generate your own custom pixel skin right inside Skales.
Full agent loopApprove / Decline3 mascotsCustom pixel skinsOwn conversation thread
“this looks awesome! but after bonzi buddy went rogue.. i have ptsd”
- @aleksblackz on YouTube.
Fair. This one asks before it does anything.
Try it right now - the Buddy in the corner of this page is real. ↘
SkalesBubblesCapy
03Skales Studio
Make things, not just text.
Design, image, video, voice and music - one creative suite inside your agent.
Prompt-to-design returns production-ready HTML + Tailwind across 7 templates.
Images via FLUX, SDXL, DALL·E or local ComfyUI.
Video in 1080p via Veo, Kling, Runway and fal.ai - native 9:16 included.
A Brand Kit keeps everything on-brand.
Code Mode binds any chat to a folder - Plan investigates read-only, Code edits,
Auto runs the whole task. Codework is the full 3-panel coding IDE with live diffs,
test loops and git. And Lio is the friendly one - a 6-year-old shipped a Snake game
with it. All three work with Claude, GPT, Gemini or your local Ollama model.
Every claim dated and sourced. Last verified June 2026.
05Skales Mobile
An agent, in your pocket.
The mobile app is a complete agent on its own:
49 tools that run on the phone, a model that runs
on the device with no signal at all, plus Flow,
Studio and voice. Pair it via QR over an
end-to-end encrypted relay and it also drives
your desktop's 183 tools from anywhere. Live on Google Play and the App Store.
Voices from GitHub, YouTube, Hacker News and the community - linked where the platform allows.
“From every tool I've tested in this space, I haven't found one that delivers intelligence without complexity, a companion instead of a tool, visualization without needing to write code, or value without hype. Skales has the foundation to tell that story. No one else in this landscape is close.”
“Bro, Skales is awesome. I use it for a week with local LLM and it's really work. Sure, here is some bugs, but I hope it will disappear in future version. 10/10. Thank you so much!”
“Good luck with Skales - the accessibility angle (no Docker, no CLI) is genuinely underserved.”
“This is honestly the best implementation of a local agent UI I have seen so far. The character interaction feels very fluid and much less robotic than other wrappers.”
“I love this bro. Yesterday installed and its great”
“The modular skill system is brilliant. It's the first time I've felt like I'm building a real assistant rather than just a chatbot. The codebase is surprisingly clean too.”
“The way it handles multi-step tasks is insane compared to standard chat interfaces. It actually does the work instead of just telling me how to do it.”
“This is the first project that actually makes 'Agents' accessible for non-coders. I set it up in 5 minutes and it's already organizing my downloads folder.”
“this looks awesome! but after bonzi buddy went rogue.. i have ptsd”
“I love the fact that it doesn't just sit in the browser. Having it as a desktop companion makes it feel like it's part of the OS. Plus, the privacy controls are top-tier.”
“ngl this is cooler than the 'just watches your terminal' ones, actually doing stuff makes it feel less gimmicky.”
Shipping weekly
What’s new in Skales
The app updates itself - and so does this section.
v12.5
Skales Flow
Write a brief, get a deck, a document, a prototype or a motion piece - as a real project with files, a plan and PDF export. On the desktop and on the phone.
v2.5
The mobile app grew up
A complete agent on the phone: 49 native tools, a model that runs on the device with no signal, Flow and Studio. Live on both stores.
v12.5
Moonshot AI (Kimi) built in
Paste a key, pick the international or the China endpoint, done - in chat, Flow, Codework, Lio and every model picker.
v12.5
Incognito that means it
An incognito chat now runs on a conversation with no file at all - nothing written, not even the reply, and gone when you leave.
Free for personal, education & internal business use
Skales is source-available under BSL 1.1 and automatically converts to
Apache 2.0 in 2030 - what you build today keeps working in five years. No rug pulls.
Embedding Skales in a product you sell? Commercial licensing is a friendly conversation:
[email protected]
Q3 2026 · Waitlist open
Skales Business Suite
Persistent goals that survive restarts, CRM sync, newsletter automation, a social queue on your
schedule - same local-first story. Get an early invite:
Opt-in only, unsubscribe anytime. Skales itself never needs an account.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Everything you'd want to know before the download.
What is Skales?
Skales is a private AI desktop agent for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. It lives on your computer, connects to any AI model - Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral or fully local via Ollama and LM Studio - and does real work: background goals, coding, email, calendar, browsing, media generation. Free for personal use, no account required.
Is Skales really free?
Yes. Skales is free for personal, educational and internal business use under the Business Source License 1.1, which automatically converts to Apache 2.0 in 2030. You only pay your AI provider for API usage - or pay nothing at all by running local models with Ollama or LM Studio. Skales itself never charges a subscription.
How do I install Skales?
Download the installer for your OS from skales.app/download - Windows EXE, macOS DMG (signed), Linux .deb or AppImage, Android on Google Play, iOS on the App Store. Double-click, done in about 30 seconds. No Docker, no terminal, no admin rights, no account.
Is my data private?
Yes - Skales is local-first. All conversations, memories, files and settings live in ~/.skales-data on your machine. API calls go directly from your computer to your chosen AI provider (BYOK - bring your own key). No cloud backup, no middleman, no data sharing. With Ollama it works entirely offline.
Which AI models and providers does Skales support?
18 providers out of the box: OpenAI (GPT), Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), xAI (Grok), DeepSeek, Mistral, Groq, Together, MiniMax, Moonshot AI (Kimi, with a switch between the international and China endpoints), Cloudflare Workers AI, NVIDIA NIM, Hugging Face and OpenRouter - plus fully local models via Ollama, LM Studio, KoboldCpp or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. You can even sign in with your existing ChatGPT subscription, no API key needed.
Is there an AI agent app for iOS and Android?
Yes. Skales Mobile is a real native app on the App Store and Google Play - not a web view and not a remote control that needs a computer. It runs 49 tools on the phone itself, can run a Gemma model on the device with no connection at all, and includes Flow, Studio, voice, agents and skills. Pairing it with a Skales desktop over an end-to-end encrypted relay is optional and adds that machine's full tool set. No account, no subscription.
What can Skales actually do autonomously?
Type /goal and what you want. Skales plans the steps, keeps working in the background with the chat closed, runs recurring schedules, and parks with a decision card when it needs your approval. Code Mode works in any folder like a coding agent, Workflows replay recorded tasks, and the Organization feature delegates work across specialized agents - with approval gates throughout.
Windows says "Windows protected your PC" - is Skales safe?
Yes. The Windows build is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen shows a one-time notice. Click "More info", then "Run anyway". The published installer scan shows 0 detections across 52 antivirus engines on VirusTotal, Skales is source-available, and you can verify your download against the SHA-512 checksums published with every release. The macOS build is fully signed and notarized by Apple.
What is the Desktop Buddy?
A floating mascot that lives on your screen - Skales the gecko, Bubbles or Capy, plus thousands of custom pixel pets in the open Petdex format. The Buddy is a full agent: ask it anything and it works through multi-step tasks with approve/decline buttons right in its speech bubble.
What are the system requirements?
Windows 10/11 (64-bit), macOS 11 Big Sur or newer (Apple Silicon or Intel), or any x64 Linux distro (Ubuntu 20+, Fedora 36+, Debian via .deb). Skales uses about 300 MB of RAM in normal operation - no GPU required. Local models via Ollama need whatever the model needs.
Stop configuring. Start asking.
30 seconds from download to first task. No Docker, no terminal, no subscription -
and everything stays on your machine.
See the mobile app
