Meet Cai,
the private clipboard AI
Select any text or image, press ⌥C and get instant AI actions.
Local AI without the app switching.
100% Local
Open Source
Apple Intelligence
Select any text or image, press ⌥C and get instant AI actions.
Local AI without the app switching.
Apple Intelligence Three steps. One shortcut. Zero app switching.
Highlight text in any app. Whether it's an email, a screenshot in your desktop or an appointment.
Press ⌥C to summon Cai. The action menu appears instantly. No tabs, no waiting, no distractions.
Execute and done. Choose an action, run a custom prompt or use your saved actions.
Cai detects what you selected — meetings, addresses, code, images — and shows the right actions automatically.
Select some text, let Cai do the rest.
Use AI without switching apps.
Run on-the-fly AI prompts, execute shell commands, save your own actions, and create custom destinations.
Designed for speed and privacy. Customize everything.
Results appear right where you are. No tabs, no context switching, no copy-paste loops.
Copy a screenshot or image and Cai extracts the text automatically — then run any action on it.
Run shell commands directly from Cai — automate workflows, trigger scripts, and control your system without opening Terminal.
All processing stays on your machine. No telemetry, no tracking, no cloud — your data is yours alone.
Search, pin, and reuse your last 100 clipboard items. Never lose what you copied.
Press Tab to ask follow-ups. Press ⌘N to start a fresh conversation — no clipboard needed.
Cai works out of the box with a built-in model.
You can also connect to your favorite local server or a cloud provider.
Yes. Cai runs locally on your Mac by default. If you choose to connect a cloud model, your text is sent to that provider — but this is entirely opt-in. By default, everything stays on your machine.
Clipboard managers store and organize what you copy — Cai acts on it. And unlike ChatGPT or other AI tools that require switching to a separate app, Cai works directly on your selected text in any app, without breaking your flow. It's an AI text action layer that runs locally on your Mac by default.
Cai uses the system hotkey ⌥C to copy your selected text via a simulated ⌘C. macOS requires Accessibility access for apps that interact with system-level keyboard commands. This is what allows Cai to work seamlessly across all apps.
To enable it: open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and toggle Cai on.
Cai ships with Ministral 3B built in — no setup needed. It also supports Apple Intelligence on macOS 26+ (M1 or later), local servers like LM Studio, Ollama, and Jan AI, and cloud providers like OpenAI, Google Gemini, Mistral, and OpenRouter.
You can also load your own GGUF models by dropping them into ~/Library/Application Support/Cai/models/.
Open Cai's settings and go to Custom Actions. You can create prompt actions (saved AI instructions) or URL actions (templates with %s for your selected text). Once saved, they appear in your action list for one-tap access.
You can also browse and install actions shared by the community at cai-extensions.
Yes. Once installed and connected to a local model, Cai works completely offline with no internet connection required.
Yes. Cai is free and open source under the MIT license. No subscriptions, no telemetry, no strings attached. Optional cloud and in-app API search features may be offered in the future, but the core app will always be free.