Install OpenBots

OpenBots runs on Apple silicon Macs and 64-bit (x86-64) Linux. There is no Windows or Intel Mac version yet.

Download

• macOS, Apple silicon: a disk image, signed and notarized.
• Linux, x86-64: an AppImage.

The links always give the newest release. Each installer's SHA-256 is in the release catalog.

Install

macOS

Open the disk image, drag OpenBots to Applications, and open it from there.

Linux

Make the AppImage executable and run it:

chmod +x openbots-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./openbots-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage

Set up

Bots run on your ChatGPT plan, on models you host, or on both. Either is enough.

Sign in to ChatGPT

In Settings, under ChatGPT, choose Sign in, then open the link OpenBots shows and enter its code there. The sign-in stays on this computer.

Use models you host

In Settings, under Your models, Add model connects a model served behind an OpenAI-style API, such as vLLM, SGLang, Ollama or LM Studio, for chat, transcription or speech: its address, its model and an optional key. Voice chats on your own models need a transcription and a speech model.

Use both

With ChatGPT and your own models, Settings lists under Order what chat, transcription and speech each try, in turn. Drag one into place to change it; each uses the first one that is set up. Chat moves to the next when one fails. A voice chat stays on ChatGPT's voice or on your own models, whichever it starts on, and your own models move to the next of their kind when one fails.

Make a bot

New bot, at the top of the sidebar, asks for a name, an outfit and what the bot is for. It can also bring over a bot from Grok Bot.

Permissions on macOS

macOS asks you to allow these the first time each is needed:

• Local Network, to reach OpenBots on your other computers. Until it is allowed, they cannot connect.
• Microphone, when you start a voice chat with a bot.
• Screen Recording and Accessibility, so bots can see and use the screen. They go to Multidesktop Bridge, which OpenBots uses for the screen: install Multidesktop from Settings, under Screen, and the Computer tab asks for both.

You can change any of them later in System Settings, under Privacy & Security.

Connect your computers

Every computer running OpenBots is a server unless you turn that off: it keeps a copy of every bot and runs them. Your laptop can chat with the bots your desktop runs, and they keep working while it sleeps.

1. Install Tailscale on each computer, signed in as the same Tailscale user.
2. On one computer, copy the pairing code from Settings, under Computers. On each of the others, paste it into Another computer's pairing code. Your computers answer only each other, and only with this code.
3. Each server signs in to ChatGPT, or adds its models, for itself.

To keep bots off a computer, turn off Server mode in Settings, under Server. It hands its bots to your other servers and then only shows them. The last server can't be turned off while it holds bots.

Updates

OpenBots updates itself. It downloads updates in the background and, once one is ready, shows Restart to update at the bottom of the sidebar; choose it when it suits you. An update that only changes the window shows Update instead, and reloads it. Check for Updates… is in the app menu on macOS and in Help on Linux.

Before you start

A bot acts as you. Its shell runs any command with your permissions, without asking, and anything it reads can try to steer it. Give a bot only the apps and computers you would let it use. The README explains how your bots are kept to your own computers.