Local AI · · 5 min read
How Taby works
Taby is a free AI assistant that lives at the top of your screen and runs locally on your Mac or Windows PC. You move your mouse to it, ask for anything, and it answers from your own tasks, notes and days, right on your computer, even with the Wi‑Fi off.
The short version
- Move your mouse to the top of your screen. Taby opens.
- Type or say what you need.
- Taby answers and does it: reminders, plans, notes, focus.
- The AI runs on your computer. Your data stays there.
Asking Taby “When am I most productive?” on a Mac. More examples on the homepage.
How it works, step by step
- 1
Move your mouse to Taby
On a Mac, Taby lives in the notch at the top of the screen. On Windows, nothing sits there until you move your mouse to the top edge: a thin bar appears, fills in, and opens into Taby.
- 2
Ask for anything
Type or talk. Ask a question, add a task, set a reminder, or ask about your own days, like when you focus best.
- 3
Taby gets it done
Taby answers and does the job: it adds the reminder, plans the slot, finds the note, or closes the distracting tabs. Its little face reacts while it works.
- 4
Fully local
The AI model runs on your own computer. Your tasks, notes, habits and day history stay there, and Taby keeps working with the Wi‑Fi off.
Things you can ask
Most productivity apps make you do the sorting. Taby works the other way around: you ask, and it looks at your own tasks, notes, calendar and activity to answer.
“When am I most productive?”
“You’re sharpest from 9 to 11 AM.” Taby looks at your own activity on this computer and shows your best hours.
“When should I do hard tasks?”
“Tomorrow at 9:30. You’re free and it’s your best hour.” It checks your calendar and your focus pattern together.
“Find my notes about the landing page”
“Found 3 notes.” Search your notes in plain words, no folders or exact titles needed.
“Remind me to drink water in 30 min”
“Done. I’ll nudge you at 3:30.” Reminders that actually fire, set in one sentence.
“Help me focus”
One task, 25 minutes, and YouTube, Twitch and X stay closed until you are done.
“Plan my day”
Tell Taby what is on your plate and get a plan that puts the hard thing in your sharpest hour.
What runs locally, and what is optional
Taby runs one open model, Qwen 3.5 4B, picked because it scored highest on Taby’s own test of 114 real tasks. It runs on your computer, so everyday help costs nothing and needs no internet. Taby Cloud is there for the heavy stuff when you want it.
| Feature | Local AI (free) | Taby Cloud (optional) |
|---|---|---|
| Where the AI runs | On your computer | In the cloud, under Zero Data Retention |
| Price | Free | €8.99 / month, optional |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Tasks, notes, habits, focus, reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Calendar (Google, Outlook, Apple) | Yes | Yes |
| Voice | Listens in 8 languages, talks in 11 | Very accurate in 100+ languages |
| Web search and reading pages | No | Yes |
| Understand images | Yes | Yes |
| Generate and edit images | No | Yes |
| Connect Claude, Codex or your own agent (MCP) | Yes | Yes |
| Phone | No | Web app at app.heytaby.com |
What you need
- A Mac or a Windows PC. Linux is coming soon.
- 8 GB of memory or more (a graphics card on Windows) for local AI.
- A one‑time download of about 4–5 GB for the local AI. The app itself is small.
- No GPU required for Cloud. For local voice, a GPU or Apple silicon helps.
At a glance
- Local model
- Qwen 3.5 4B, picked by Taby
- Your data
- Stays on your computer
- How to open
- Mouse to the top of the screen
- Languages
- 14 in the app · local voice in 8
- Works with
- Claude, Codex, your own agent (MCP)
- Price
- Free · Cloud €8.99/month optional
Questions
What is Taby?
Taby is a free desktop AI assistant for Mac and Windows. It lives at the top of your screen with a little animated face, and helps with tasks, notes, reminders, focus, calendar and questions. The AI can run fully locally on your own computer.
How do I open Taby?
Move your mouse to the top of your screen. On a Mac, Taby sits in the notch. On Windows, a thin bar appears at the top edge and opens into Taby. Then type or talk to it.
Does Taby run AI locally?
Yes. Taby runs one Local Brain, Qwen 3.5 4B, on your computer. Taby picks and sets up the model for you. The local brain is free, works offline, and your tasks, notes and history stay on your machine. Taby Cloud is optional.
Can my computer run Taby’s local AI?
Most computers with 8 GB of memory or more (a graphics card on Windows) can. The local AI is a one‑time download of about 4–5 GB. The free checker at heytaby.com/tools/can-my-computer-run-local-ai tells you in about 20 seconds.
Is Taby free?
Yes. The desktop app and the local AI are free. Taby Cloud is an optional €8.99 per month subscription for a bigger brain, web search, image generation, six personalities and very accurate voice in 100+ languages.
Which languages does Taby speak?
The app comes in 14 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Bengali and Indonesian, and Taby writes its answers in all 14. Local voice listens in 8 of them (English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian) and talks in 11 (those plus Japanese, Korean and Indonesian), right on your computer. For voice in Chinese, Hindi or Bengali, and in 100+ languages in total, use Taby Cloud.
Does Taby work on Linux?
Not yet. Taby is available for macOS and Windows today, and Linux is coming soon.
Can ChatGPT, Claude or Codex use Taby?
Other AI agents can. Taby has a local MCP connection (Settings → General → Connect an AI agent) so Claude, Codex or your own agent can read your day, add tasks, take notes and even play a face animation. It runs on your computer only.
Is my data used to train AI models?
No. Nothing you write is used to train models. Local AI keeps your content on your computer, and Taby Cloud runs under Zero Data Retention: the AI providers process a request and keep nothing afterwards.