brownie
How it worksFeaturesPrivacyOpen sourceDownload for Mac
Free · open source · runs on your Mac

A house spirit that lives in your Mac and does the chores while you sleep.

Every night, while your Mac is plugged in, Brownie reads what’s new in your life — messages, mail, notes, files — with a small model that runs entirely on the machine, writes it into private notes, and leaves a handful of morning cards: things worth your attention, each ready to do in one tap.
Download for macOS View on GitHub macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon · AGPL-3.0
2:59 → 3:00 AM
You’re asleep. Your Mac is plugged in. Brownie wakes it.
The night shift begins
For You
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Knowledge
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Reading · 3:00 AM
0 bytes of raw data sent
Reading what’s new
3:00 AM · a 4B model on this Mac’s GPU · nothing leaves
Gemma 4 · on device
WhatsAppPriya · Goa dates 3–6 Oct?kept
iMessageAmma · asked again for the scan reportkept
GmailAdobe · your plan renews Fridaykept
FilesForm16.pdf landed in Downloadskept
Slack#founders · 14 messages, none for younot kept
GmailBank · statement with account numbererased on sight
WhatsAppKaran · “will send my share tonight”kept
CalendarPricing review · Mon 4 PM with Rohan, Meerakept
255 read38 kept4 sensitive erased0 bytes of raw data sent
It reads everything new — on this Mac
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Writing notes · 3:19 AM
14 KB of summaries sent
Writing your notes
3:19 AM · only short summaries reach the brain you chose · 14 KB
an Obsidian vault
People/Priya.md
Goa: proposed 3–6 Oct on Wed; waiting on you. Books the villas herself. See [[Goa October]].
People/Amma.md
Waiting for the scan report since Tue — you said “tonight”. The PDF is in Downloads.
People/Karan.md
[[Priya]]’s brother. Owes his villa share — “will send my share tonight”, Fri. Nothing since.
Money/Subscriptions.md
Adobe renews Friday. Photoshop unused since March.
Plain Markdown on disk · one note per person, group and plan · open it in Obsidian, on your phone too
It keeps notes, like a good assistant would
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Judging · 3:31 AM
6.1 KB of summaries sent
Deciding what matters
3:31 AM · 8 candidates from the week · verified against your notes
judge → prepare
Reply to Priya about Goacard
Read the founders threadskip
Amma’s scan reportcard
A newsletter about Swift 7skip
Karan’s villa sharecard
Adobe renewalcard
LinkedIn: 12 new connectionsskip
Cricket tickets from Karanskip
4 kept. Each verified, each with its evidence, each with a draft in your voice.
Eight candidates. Four earn a card.
For You
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Last run 3:00 AM
0 bytes of raw data sent
4 things worth your attention
7:30 AM · ranked by urgency · nothing is sent until you tap
Good morning
Reply to Priya about Goa
Four people proposed 3–6 Oct. You haven’t answered and your calendar is clear.
Send a reply Waiting 3 days
Amma is waiting for the scan report
You told her “tonight” on Tuesday. The PDF has been in Downloads since Monday.
Send the file Promised 4 days ago
Karan still hasn’t sent his villa share
“Will send my share tonight” on Friday. Nothing since.
Remind him Since Friday
Adobe renews on Friday
You last opened Photoshop in March, according to your files.
Decide Renews in 6 days
Last night, in numbers 255 read · 38 kept · 4 erased · 3 requests to the brain, 14 KB · 0 bytes of raw messages
See exactly what left
4 things for this morning
Prepared on your Mac. Nothing has been sent.
The morning is ready before you are
For You
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Last run 3:00 AM
0 bytes of raw data sent
Reply to Priya about Goa
Why it’s here · the evidence · a draft in your voice
Send to Priya →
Draft
Hey! 3–6 Oct works for me. Booking flights tonight — villa on you? 🙏
You can edit this before it goes. Brownie never sends on its own.
Hands
✓ Opened WhatsApp on the chat with Priya
✓ Put the draft in the message box
■ Stopped. The Send button is yours.
Hands stops here. You press Send.
One tap. Hands does the steps — and stops before Send.
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Last run 3:00 AM
0 bytes of raw data sent
Loops
Promises in both directions, found in your chats
You owe 2 · Owed to you 2
You → Ammathe scan report · “tonight”, TueOpen
You → Meeranotes on the mobile layout · WedOpen
Karan → youhis villa share · “tonight”, FriOpen
Priya → youan answer on the Goa dates✓ Closed · she replied this morning
A loop closes by itself when the next read sees it done. A card you fired comes back if nobody replied.
Every promise, both ways, until it’s kept
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Ask
Answers from your notes · every claim links to where it came from
What did I promise Meera?
Two things, both still open. On Wednesday you said you’d send your notes on the mobile pricing layout 1 · Slack · Meera · Wed — she’s asked three times since 2 · Slack · Fri. And in Tuesday’s review you agreed to decide the free tier by the end of the month 3 · Granola · Tue.
Open the loopDraft the notes message
Click a chip and the original chat, mail or note opens. Only the matching note excerpts went to the brain.
Ask anything. Every answer shows its receipts.
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Last run 3:00 AM
0 bytes of raw data sent
Teach Hands
Do it once, the way you always do. Hands watches the buttons, not your screen.
● Watching · 0:41
✓Opened WhatsApp
✓Opened the chat with Rohan → the person, ask me each time
✓Typed “Numbers for the week: 41 signups, ₹1.2L MRR” → written from your notes
■Stopped before Send · always yours
Saved: “Weekly numbers to Rohan” · every Monday, 9 AM
Also from ⌘⇧Space, Apple Shortcuts and Siri.
Teach it once. It repeats it — and still stops before Send.
For You
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Last run 3:00 AM
0 bytes of raw data sent
What left your Mac
Every request to the brain, byte for byte · kept 30 days
Requests
3
Sent
14.2 KB
Raw messages, files, mail
0 bytes
Or choose
This Mac only → 0
3:08 AMJudge what matters · 24 summaries, the calendar, 9 note titles6.1 KB
3:14 AMPrepare the cards · 4 items, the notes they touch5.4 KB
3:19 AMUpdate your notes · diffs for 6 notes2.7 KB
Nothing is hidden about what goes out
Free. Open source. Nothing leaves your Mac.
macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon · AGPL-3.0
Download for macOS
What happens at 3 AM

Reads on your Mac. Writes notes. Leaves the morning ready.

1 · It reads, on this Mac

At 3 AM the Mac wakes itself. A 4-billion-parameter model on your own GPU reads everything new since last night and decides what matters. Anything sensitive — ID numbers, cards, medical records — is erased on sight and never stored.

2 · It writes your notes

Short summaries — never the messages themselves — go to the brain you chose, which keeps a knowledge base of plain Markdown: one note per person, per group, per plan. It’s an Obsidian vault; open it there, on your phone too.

3 · It leaves the morning ready

A handful of cards, ranked: a reply someone is waiting on, a promise you made, a renewal, a meeting to prepare for. Each shows why it’s there, the evidence, and a draft in your voice. You press Send — Brownie never does.

Beyond the morning

The notes are the product.

Loops

Every promise, both ways, found in your chats. A card you fired comes back if nobody replied.

Ask

“What did I promise Meera?” Answers from your notes, every claim linked to the message it came from.

Hands & recipes

Teach it once by doing it. Hands replays it — by app link, accessibility tree, or screen — and stops before Send.

Your notes, your vault

Plain Markdown with [[wikilinks]]. Open in Obsidian; mirror to iCloud Drive for your phone.

Memory for your other AIs

Claude Desktop, Cursor and any MCP app can read your notes — on this Mac only, with a log of what they asked.

Briefs & the Sunday letter

Ten minutes before a meeting: who’s in the room and what you owe them. On Sunday: your week, in a letter.

What left your Mac

Every request to the brain, byte for byte. Or choose “This Mac only” and the answer is always zero.

Fresh during the day

Reads what’s new every hour while you’re away and the Mac is on power. Cards refresh; nothing is sent.

What we never do

Private by construction, not by promise.

There is no Brownie server. There is nothing to sign up for. Every one of these has a test in the open-source code.
  • Raw data never leaves your Mac. Only short, scrubbed summaries reach the model you chose — and you can read every byte that did.
  • Sensitive things are erased on sight. ID numbers, cards, passwords, medical records: nothing stored, not even a log line with content.
  • Nothing is sent without your tap. Ever. There is no auto-send setting. Hands stops before Send, Pay and Delete.
  • No account. Your key, your Mac, your files. Brownie has no server to hold anything.
  • Deletion is total. Panic wipe erases everything Brownie knows in one hold; uninstall removes the rest.
What it reads

The apps your life actually happens in.

FilesApple NotesiMessageWhatsAppTelegramCalendarGmailSlack · Linear · Notion · GitHub — via MCP
You choose which. Chats are off until you pick them one by one. Turn a source off and its notes stay; nothing new is read.
Free and open source

Read the code that reads your life.

Brownie is AGPL-3.0, pure Swift, and built in the open. Download the app, or build it yourself in ten minutes. Bring your own OpenAI or Claude key — or run fully local with no key at all.
View on GitHubRead the spec
git clone https://github.com/Brownie-app/brownie cd brownie brew install cmake gperf openssl@3 ./Scripts/build-tdlib.sh ./Scripts/bundle.sh && open dist/Brownie.app
What it needs

An Apple-silicon Mac and one night.

macOS 14 or later, 8 GB of memory. A 3.7 GB model download, once. Your own API key for ChatGPT/OpenAI or Claude for the cards — or “This Mac only” for no key and no bytes out. Without any brain, Brownie still keeps your notes.
Is it really free?
Yes. No tiers, no trial. The only cost is your own model key if you use one, billed by your provider, and you can see every request it made.
Does it send my messages anywhere?
No. The reader runs on your GPU. The brain only ever sees short summaries, and the “What left your Mac” screen shows them byte for byte. Choose “This Mac only” and nothing leaves at all.
Will it send something on my behalf?
Never. Hands puts everything in place and stops one step short of Send, Pay or Delete. Those buttons stay yours.
Why 3 AM?
Because a house spirit works while you sleep. Your Mac wakes itself, reads, and goes back to sleep — and reads again during the day whenever it’s idle and plugged in.
© 2026 Brownie · AGPL-3.0 · Inspired by the architecture of Sentient OS
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