Moltis – AI assistant with memory, tools, and self-extending skills
Hey HN. I'm Fabien, principal engineer, 25 years shipping production systems (Ruby, Swift, now Rust). I built Moltis because I wanted an AI assistant I could run myself, trust end to end, and make extensible in the Rust way using traits and the type system. It shares some ideas with OpenClaw (same memory approach, Pi-inspired self-extension) but is Rust-native from the ground up. The agent can create its own skills at runtime. Moltis is one Rust binary, 150k lines, ~60MB, web UI included. No Node, no Python, no runtime deps. Multi-provider LLM routing (OpenAI, local GGUF/MLX, Hugging…
In plain words
Moltis is a self-hosted AI assistant built as a single Rust binary that runs locally without external runtime dependencies. It features memory capabilities, self-extending skills that the agent can create at runtime, and support for multiple LLM providers including OpenAI and local models. The tool includes a web interface, sandboxed execution via containers, hybrid memory storage, and multi-channel access through web, Telegram, and API. Designed for developers who want full control and transparency over their AI systems, Moltis is MIT licensed with built-in observability.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN. I'm Fabien, principal engineer, 25 years shipping production systems (Ruby, Swift, now Rust). I built Moltis because I wanted an AI assistant I could run myself, trust end to end, and make extensible in the Rust way using traits and the type system. It shares some ideas with OpenClaw (same memory approach, Pi-inspired self-extension) but is Rust-native from the ground up. The agent can create its own skills at runtime. Moltis is one Rust binary, 150k lines, ~60MB, web UI included. No Node, no Python, no runtime deps. Multi-provider LLM routing (OpenAI, local GGUF/MLX, Hugging Face), sandboxed execution (Docker/Podman/Apple Containers), hybrid vector + full-text memory, MCP tool servers with auto-restart, and multi-channel (web, Telegram, API) with shared context. MIT licensed. No telemetry phoning home, but full observability built in (OpenTelemetry, Prometheus). I've included 1-click deploys on DigitalOcean and Fly.io, but since a Docker image is provided you can easily run it on your own servers as well. I've written before about owning your content (https://pen.so/2020/11/07/own-your-content/) and owning your email (https://pen.so/2020/12/10/own-your-email/). Same logic here: if something touches your files, credentials, and daily workflow, you should be able to inspect it, audit it, and fork it if the project changes direction. It's alpha. I use it daily and I'm shipping because it's useful, not because it's done. Longer architecture deep-dive: https://pen.so/2026/02/12/moltis-a-personal-ai-assistant-bui... Happy to discuss the Rust architecture, security model, or local LLM setup. Would love feedback.
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