A personal assistant
that lives on your Mac.
flow is an app you run on your own Mac, with no service behind it. It remembers what you tell it, keeps working after you close the window, and speaks up when it needs you.
Pick up where
you left off.
There is a single conversation that never starts over. Tell it something on Monday from your Mac, ask about it on Saturday from your phone, and it knows what you mean.
Move Thursday’s call with Priya to the afternoon and find us somewhere for lunch after.
Moved to 2:30. There’s a quiet place two blocks from her office. Want me to hold a table?
iMessageWhat was that lunch place called?
Kettle & Vine on 9th. You mentioned Priya’s vegetarian, and their menu is mostly that.
Ask once.
Get on with your day.
Most assistants answer and stop. flow keeps working after you close the window, using your browser and apps, then checks in when it has something for you.
- 8:40You ask
Cancel the gym membership I never use.
- 8:41You close the window
Reading the cancellation terms on their site…
flow carries on in the background while you get on with your morning.
- 10:15flow checks inflowThey need thirty days’ written notice. I drafted the email and left it in your drafts. Say the word and I’ll send it.
- Uses your Mac
It can open your browser and apps and do the task itself.
- Asks before it acts
Anything that sends, books or pays shows you the exact content first and waits for you to approve or decline it.
- Stays on your Mac
Your conversation, memory and profile live in a folder on your Mac. Nothing is hosted for you.
It learns.
Then it looks out for you.
flow learns from your mail, calendar and messages, offers to keep an eye on things, and reaches out only when you’re needed.
- Your car insurance renews in March.Gmail
- You run Tuesday and Thursday mornings.Calendar
- Your sister prefers calls to texts.Messages
Your insurance renews in March. Want me to pull two comparison quotes a few weeks before?
Yes. No phone calls, though.
Everything it learns is listed in Your Profile with its source. Correct or delete anything, any time.
Runs on your Mac.
No service behind it.
There is no account and no server. flow runs on your Mac, keeps its data there, and uses a model only when it needs to think.
There is no flow server and no sign-up. Install it, and everything it stores sits in a folder you can open, back up or delete.
flow signs in with your existing ChatGPT account, or points at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The model is the only outside service it uses.
When flow thinks, it sends your model provider the context that one request needs. Orchestration, tools, memory and history stay on your Mac.
Where flow
stands.
The same idea, an assistant that acts for you, is being built in a few places. flow borrows gladly from the open ones and differs mostly in where it runs and what it asks of you.
| Capability | flow | OpenClaw | Hermes | Instinct | Poke |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on your own Mac, nothing hosted | |||||
| Bring your own model | |||||
| Guided setup, no terminal | |||||
| One conversation across Mac and iMessage | |||||
| Works in the background, then checks in | |||||
| Uses your browser and Mac apps | |||||
| Learns from your mail, calendar and messages | |||||
| Open source |
- Yes
- Partly, or with setup
- No
From each project’s public documentation in September 2026. OpenClaw and Hermes are open-source agent frameworks you host yourself. Instinct and Poke are hosted services reached over messages. Not affiliated with any of them; corrections welcome.
Step into flow.
Setup signs in with your existing ChatGPT account and runs entirely on this Mac. Connect Gmail and Calendar so flow can get to know you; that connection reads, and never sends or changes anything on its own.