Rowboat – Open-source, local-first alternative to Claude Desktop

In plain words

Rowboat is an open-source, local-first desktop application designed as an alternative to Claude Desktop that prioritizes work efficiency over chat interfaces. It allows users to build custom work surfaces for tasks like email, meetings, notes, and browsing, integrating AI assistance directly into workflows rather than requiring context-switching to a separate chat. Built by developers who previously created AI tools for enterprise support teams, Rowboat emphasizes delivering AI help where work actually happens.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Open-source AI coworker, with memory. Contribute to rowboatlabs/rowboat development by creating an account on GitHub.

A desktop AI coworker with a memory of your work and built-in surfaces to act on it. Rowboat indexes your work into a living knowledge graph and uses that to get work done on your machine. It includes work surfaces for collaborating with AI: email client, notes, browser, code mode, meeting note taker, and workspaces for different projects. ⭐ If you find Rowboat useful, please star the repo. It helps more people find it. All release files: https://github.com/rowboatlabs/rowboat/releases/latest To connect Google services (Gmail, Calendar, and Drive), follow Google setup . To enable voice input and voice notes (optional), add a Deepgram API key in ~/.rowboat/config/deepgram.json To enable…from github.com

In the maker’s words, at launch

Claude’s desktop app is brilliant, but for our own daily work we kept wanting it to be less like a chat app and more like a full-fledged work app. Rowboat is our attempt at that, including the ability to build your own work surfaces inside Rowboat (more below). Our repo is…

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