Why Sidemates
Hosted AI agents rent you their computer for $20–300 a month. Sidemates gives you the same kind of team on your Mac, for free.
- No new bill. Sign in with the ChatGPT, Grok or GitHub Copilot plan you already pay for, use Claude through the Claude Code you already have installed (or an API key), start free with a Gemini key, or run a model on your Mac.
- A real team, not one bot. Every teammate has a name, a job, a private workspace and its own browser. When one builds on another’s work, it waits for the answer.
- You stay in charge. Reading and searching just happen. Sending, buying, signing in or submitting waits for your okay by default — with the website and the exact button. Trust a teammate completely? Turn on Autopilot for it. Autopilot still stops for sign-ins, CAPTCHAs, more AI spending, saving new instructions and uploading saved files to a website. It does not stop for purchases, payments, deletions or messages to new people.
- Nothing hidden. No account, no tracking. Your studio is a folder on your Mac, and every line of Sidemates is here.
Try it
One-line install (macOS 13+, Apple silicon or Intel):
curl -fsSL https://sidemates.app/install.sh | sh
It takes a few minutes and downloads about 140 MB. No administrator password. It checks the download’s fingerprint, runs Sidemates in the background and adds it to your Dock. Read the installer first if you like.
Web tasks need Chrome, Edge or Brave on your Mac, and the private computer needs Docker.
Or run from source (Node.js 22.13+):
git clone https://github.com/PrisacariuRobert/sidemates.git
cd sidemates
npm ci
npm run dev
Open http://127.0.0.1:4310, connect your AI, create a teammate and say hello.
What it does
- Research with sources — each teammate browses in its own private browser and links what it found; when something can’t be checked, it says so.
- Group chats — write “Nova: find… Scout, double-check…” and each does their part, in order.
- Routines — “Every Monday at 9, plan my week.” Plus a Sunday look back at what got done. Routines run while your Mac is awake; Sidemates can wake it once a day for them (macOS asks for your password to allow that).
- Voice and phone (beta) — talk hands-free, or chat and approve from your phone’s Home Screen once your Mac has an address the phone can reach (guide).
- Skills — teach a teammate a method once, or add reviewed skills from the community.
- Bring your setup — one-click import from Hermes Agent and OpenClaw, including automations.
Your AI, your choice
| |
|---|
| Start free | Google Gemini (free key — a Google account, no card) |
| Use your subscription | ChatGPT · Grok · GitHub Copilot (Pro, Pro+, Business) |
| Use Claude | Through the Claude Code you already have installed and signed in, or with an API key |
| Pay per use | OpenCode Go · any OpenAI-compatible API |
| Stay private | Models on your Mac with Ollama |
Each teammate can use a different AI. Sidemates never resells tokens or adds a fee; each provider’s own terms and limits apply. For Claude, Sidemates starts your own claude command and never sees your login. Anthropic’s terms restrict using Claude subscription logins in other products, and how that applies to a tool that starts your own Claude Code is not settled, so check them before relying on it.
How it compares
| Cloud agents (OpenAI dots, Grok Bot, Meta Muse) | Siri AI (macOS 27) | Hermes Desktop, OpenClaw | Sidemates |
|---|
| Price | $0–300/month plans | Free, with daily limits | Free + your models | Free + your models |
| Runs on | Their cloud computers | Your Mac + Apple's cloud | Your machine | Your Mac |
| Uses your Mac's apps and files | Muse's Mac app and dots (if you allow it) can; Grok Bot can't | Quick actions | Files and scripts | Mail, Calendar, files, apps — with your okay |
| Long jobs on websites | Yes, in their browser | No | Yes | Yes, each teammate in its own browser |
| A team of named teammates | Grok Bot only | No | Hermes Bot Mode | Yes |
| Scheduled work | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, while your Mac is awake (it can wake it once a day) |
| Asks before acting | Yes | Yes | Configurable | By default, with the exact button — or Autopilot |
| Choose your AI | No | No | Yes | Yes — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, local… |
| Open source | No | No | Yes (MIT) | Yes (MIT) |
Siri is great for quick questions — Sidemates is for the whole job, and works with Siri (“Hey Siri, Ask Sidemates”). OpenAI dots isn’t offered on its Pro plan in the EEA, UK or Switzerland, Meta Muse is available in the US and Canada, and Siri AI is on Macs in the EU but not yet on iPhones there; Sidemates works wherever your Mac does. Grok Bot is now included with SuperGrok and Cursor Pro. Competitor details as of 7 October 2026, from their public pages. See the full scorecard.
Privacy and safety
Your studio, conversations and files live on your Mac. When a teammate works, what it needs is sent to the AI you chose, under that provider’s terms — pick a local model to keep everything on your Mac. Teammate browsers are separate profiles, not a security sandbox. Read the security model, and report vulnerabilities privately through SECURITY.md.
Status
Sidemates 0.42.0 is a public beta (release notes). Known gaps are tracked openly in the product gap audit and the roadmap.
Sidemates has no token or cryptocurrency. Anything that claims otherwise isn’t us.
What's new in 0.42.0
- OpenBot is now Sidemates. A new name and a new home at sidemates.app. OpenBot was too close to other products' names, so we changed it early. Updating keeps your teammates, chats and files, and the old install link still works.
- macOS asks for permissions again (Mail, Calendar, Full Disk Access), because the app now has a new name and identity. It is the same app asking once more.
- Shared teammates and skills use
.sidemates file names. Files and links from before still import.
Everything earlier is in the changelog and the releases.
For developers
Web studio (desktop + phone) → Sidemates service → teammates' runtimes
│ (OpenCode, Claude Code)
SQLite + your files browser · Mac access · tools
| Path | What lives there |
|---|
src/studio/ | The app — one interface for desktop and phone |
src/server/ | Service: conversations, teammates, tools, approvals, scheduling |
src/shared/ | Types and behavior shared by both |
site/ | The website and the Mac installer |
desktop/ | Electron shell and packaging |
deploy/ | Always-on hosting on your own Linux server |
skills/, mcp/ | Bundled skills and the MCP interface |
npm run verify # guards, types, build and ~1,000 tests
npm run build && npm start # production build on 127.0.0.1:4311
More in the docs, desktop guide and private runner guide.
Contributing
Issues and pull requests are welcome — especially for onboarding, reliability, accessibility and new skills. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md.
License
MIT. Bundled dependencies keep their own notices — see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.
