Plug it in. Open the app. Start using private AI.
Base Drive is coming soon for $19.99. It handles the setup, then leaves a private AI running on the laptop you already own.
Plug in Base Drive
Connect the drive to a supported Apple Silicon Mac or Windows 11 PC. Nothing runs automatically.
Run one installer
The installer verifies every file, checks the computer, and selects a local model that fits.
Open the local chat app
Ask questions, draft text, or work with documents. The model and conversations stay on the computer.
Unplug the drive
Base Drive is only needed for setup. The installed AI keeps working offline without the drive or a cloud account.
Local-first or cloud-first. You pick the direction.
Base Router is the upcoming always-on product. These diagrams preview its planned local-first and cloud-first consent flows. Base Router is not available to order.
You talk to your Base. Most questions never leave home; a rare hard task goes out only with your OK, cleaned first.
swipe the diagram to follow the story →
- 1your question goes to your Base
- 2it uses web search, a tool you approved
- 3answered at home
- 4a rare, hard task waits for your OK
- 5private details removed, then out to the cloud
- 6the cloud's answer comes back through your Base
- · Local-first: your Base answers at home, and it isn’t cut off. It can use web search and the other tools you approve.
- · Hard tasks: leave only with your OK, with private details swapped for placeholders first, then come back through your Base.
- · Cloud-first: keep the assistant you pay for. It asks your Base for the few facts a task needs, under rules you set. That’s Base Connect, coming as a free update.
Local by default. Cloud only with your explicit yes.
Base Router is designed to handle every question locally first. If a future task needs outside help, it will ask beforeanything leaves. You choose, the approval is recorded, and one switch can keep outside help off.
- · A prompt before a single word leaves the box
- · A written record of every approval
- · A local-only mode that turns outside help off entirely
Outside help is not in the shipping build. As designed, it stays off until you turn it on, asks before anything leaves, names exactly what would be sent, and routes only to United States–hosted providers under zero-data-retention terms — providers contractually barred from storing your request or training on it. If no such provider is available, it is designed to fail rather than route to one that logs.
Round 1: small task, answered at home
What's in this lease?
✓ answer delivered
✓ answered at home, nothing left your home
too big for local, asking you first
Send this prompt to the cloud?
Use it from anywhere without breaking the promise.
Remote access is planned as an optional Base Router feature. When enabled, the connection will be encrypted end to end. Some outside coordination may be needed to establish the secure link, so the feature will start off and require an explicit choice.
Local-only mode is planned for buyers who need the upcoming router to stay entirely inside the building.
That’s the whole story.
No dark patterns, no silent uploads, no surprises in the fine print.