Skip to content

What Starfarer is

Starfarer is a voice-first AI assistant for a whole household, built to run on your own computer instead of someone else's cloud. It's shaped like a starship: the computer that runs it is the Starbase, the app you open in a browser is the Bridge, its sections are decks, the people are the crew and the owner is the Captain. The names are just for fun; everything works the way you'd expect.

What it does

  • Talks with you, by text or voice. Type on the Bridge, hold the mic, or just say an AI's name near any device. One conversation follows you from room to room.
  • Knows who's talking. Everyone signs in; room speakers recognize people by their voice once they've taught it. Each person gets their own conversations and memory.
  • Has personalities. Four built-in personas, each with its own voice, color, moods and way of talking, and each its own person: they don't see each other's conversations. You can make your own.
  • Remembers you. Facts you've told it, a journal of how things are between you, and your past conversations, all visible and editable in Logs.
  • Does things. Looks things up on the web, reads links and PDFs, checks the weather, sets timers, alarms and reminders, keeps lists, reads and answers your mail, keeps your calendar, and runs multi-step jobs on its own as away missions.
  • Lives in every room. Speakers (Satellites), wall screens (Shuttles) and your own PCs (Starships) all connect to the Starbase.
  • Grows with Modules. Add-ons from Spacedock add tools and apps; tool servers like Home Assistant connect what you already run.

What makes it different

  • Local. The AI models run on the Starbase through Ollama. Your conversations, voiceprints and memory stay on that computer. The only things that go out are what you ask for: a web search, a page to read, your mail server.
  • Honest about what it did. When the AI says it looked something up, set a timer or sent an email, it did. When a tool doesn't work, it says so instead of making something up.
  • Safe for a family. Ranks decide who may do what. Cadets (anyone under 18) get family-friendly answers and the Captain can read their conversations; adults' conversations are private, even from the Captain. Anything that changes something important needs a PIN.

What it isn't (yet)

  • Starfarer speaks and understands English only for now.
  • The one-click installer is for Windows first; Linux works today through the install script; a Mac can be a Starship but isn't tested as a Starbase.
  • It needs a reasonably capable PC to answer quickly: see What you need.