Note: The team is now building char. The anarlog community application remains open-source, MIT-licensed, and maintained as the local-first meeting notetaker in this repo. Source-visible enterprise components are commercially licensed.
anarlog is an open-source alternative to Granola. It takes notes in your meetings without sending a bot to join the call: it listens to your device audio, can transcribe on your machine, and keeps app data in a local SQLite database.
It is built for people who want AI meeting notes without handing their conversations to someone else's cloud, and for anyone who needs to get a notetaker past a security review with a straight face.
Why anarlog
- No bot joins your call. anarlog captures audio directly on your device. Nothing appears in the participant list, and nothing records from inside the meeting.
- Local when you choose it. On supported Macs, available built-in transcription models run on-device. Local Intelligence providers keep summaries and chat on your computer too.
- Your data, in a format you can read. Sessions, notes, and transcripts live in local SQLite. Recordings and attachments are plain local files. Export Markdown whenever it fits your workflow.
- Bring your own AI. Use a supported hosted provider, your own API key, or an OpenAI-compatible local server such as Ollama, LM Studio, or Unsloth.
- Readable source, MIT. The community application is MIT-licensed. Fork it, audit it, sell it, or build it yourself.
- Cloud is opt-in, not required. Hosted AI, encrypted CloudSync, and sharing exist when you want them. Nothing depends on them.
- A front door for your org. Source-visible enterprise components and commercial deployment options give security and IT teams a real path to yes.
What runs where
| Part of the workflow | Where it happens |
|---|
| Audio capture and recording | Your device |
| Transcription | Your device with an on-device model, or the provider you select |
| Notes and transcript storage | Local SQLite plus local files |
| AI summaries and chat | Your choice: local model, your own API key, or optional hosted AI |
| Sync and sharing | Off by default, opt-in encrypted CloudSync |
How AI works
anarlog keeps audio transcription separate from the language model used for summaries and chat. You can change either one without changing the other.
| Stage | App setting | Anarlog Cloud | Local or bring your own |
|---|
| Audio → transcript | Transcription | Managed Pro (Cloud) prefers Soniox 5 for live and batch transcription, with eligible fallbacks based on language and mode. | Soniqo or Apple Speech when available, or your selected transcription provider and model |
| Transcript + memo → summary, title, or chat | Intelligence | Managed Auto (also shown as Pro (Cloud)) currently uses the latest Claude Sonnet alias through OpenRouter. | Your selected API, subscription, OpenAI-compatible server, or eligible Apple Intelligence |
The active provider and model are always visible under Settings → Transcription and Settings → Intelligence. Read Models and providers for the current routes, local model list, and privacy boundaries.
Get started
- Download Anarlog for macOS, Windows, or Linux.
- Open it and join a meeting. anarlog records on your device and transcribes with the model you selected.
- Generate a note, edit it like a document, and export Markdown when you need it.
- Optional: connect an LLM provider or a local model in settings for summaries and chat.
Product docs live at docs.anarlog.so. To build the desktop app or website from source, follow Local development.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
