Hob launches open-source desktop AI for local model workflows
Creator Christian announced Hob, a free MIT-licensed desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux that runs open-weight models locally and can work with local files. The app reportedly selects a model based on installed hardware and supports sandboxed Python, web search powered by SearXNG, MCP connectors, image recognition and filesystem operations; its privacy, sandboxing and model-selection behavior has not been independently verified.
Hob combines local model inference with file handling, code execution and extensibility in an open-source desktop application, offering a privacy-focused alternative to hosted Claude and ChatGPT apps.
Hey HN, I'm Christian and this is a new OSS project I've been noodling on for the last couple of weeks. Hob is a free, MIT-licensed desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux that works on your files the way the Claude and ChatGPT desktop apps do, except the model runs on your own computer. It uses open-weight models (currently Gemma 4 and gpt-oss). All your chats and files never leave your system. The only things that go online are web search (can be turned off in settings) and any MCP connectors you add yourself.
Main features:
- Automatically finds the best open-weight model for your hardware on first install (Mac/Linux/Windows)
- Writes sandboxed Python code for ad hoc tools (data processing, document conversion, graphs etc.)
- Built-in web search (powered by SearXNG)
- MCP support
#Hob#Gemma 4#gpt-oss#llama.cpp#SearXNG#MCP#Qwen3-VL#Whisper#Electron