Select anything, press ⌥C and transform with AI.
All local. Zero app switching.
"You did in a very short time what Apple Intelligence failed to deliver." — @nemuro87 on r/LocalLLMDownload for Free v1.2.1 | macOS
Cai is a free, open-source AI action layer for macOS. It lives in your menu bar and lets you select any text or image, press ⌥C, and instantly run AI-powered actions — summarize, translate, extract text from images (OCR), draft replies, create GitHub issues, file Linear tickets, and more. It runs 100% locally with a built-in AI engine, supports Apple Intelligence on macOS 26+, and connects to providers like LM Studio and Ollama. No cloud required.
Three steps. One shortcut. Zero app switching.
Highlight text in any app. An error in terminal, a Slack message, a screenshot, a draft email...
Press ⌥C. See a list of possible actions. No tabs, no distractions.
Pick an action, done. Summarize, create a ticket, translate, run a custom prompt, or route it anywhere.
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.
Build your own actions with custom prompts, shell scripts, URL searches
— and route results anywhere.
Stay in flow. Stay private. Make it yours.
Create issues and tickets with AI from copied text or screenshots.
Results appear right where you are. No tabs, no copy-paste loops.
Copy a screenshot or error image and Cai extracts the text automatically — then run any action on it.
All processing stays on your machine. Your data is yours alone.
Search, pin, and reuse your last 100 clipboard items.
Route results to Mail, Slack, Notion or any app via custom destinations.
Works out of the box with a local built-in model.
Drag and drop your own model, connect to a 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 connects to your tools — create GitHub issues or Linear tickets without leaving your workflow. It's an AI 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), URL actions (templates with %s for your selected text), or shell actions that execute commands using your clipboard data. Once saved, they appear in your action list for one-tap access.
You can also create custom destinations to route AI results anywhere — via webhooks, deeplinks, AppleScript, or shell commands.
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 telemetry, no tracking. Some advanced features may be offered as a paid option in the future, but the core app will always remain free and open source.
