Keel is a local-first desktop app for macOS and Windows that captures what matters from your conversations into plain markdown files on your disk. Bring your own model - Claude, GPT, OpenRouter, or Ollama. Your context stays with you, not the vendor. Open source, MIT. https://keel-labs.github.io/
I built Keel because every AI tool I tried had the same problem: my context lived inside someone else's product. The notes, the history, the slowly-built understanding of my projects - all trapped behind one vendor's login. The day that model gets deprecated or that company changes direction, my brain goes with it.
Keel flips that. Your memories live on your disk, in plain markdown, in a folder you own. You can open them in any editor, back them up, version-control them, move them between machines. The model is the part that's interchangeable - Claude today, GPT tomorrow, a local Llama on a flight. The assistant changes; your context doesn't.
A few things worth knowing:
It's a real desktop app for Mac and Windows (Electron + React + TypeScript). Bring your own API key. No telemetry. No account. No cloud sync (yet). It's a v1 beta - Apple Silicon only, no Windows/Linux yet, no mobile. It's a one-person project. I'll read every comment here today; I can't promise to build every feature (yet).
Would love your feedback. Thanks for taking a look.
About Keel on Product Hunt
“An AI assistant whose memory belongs to you”
Keel launched on Product Hunt on May 10th, 2026 and earned 125 upvotes and 15 comments, placing #8 on the daily leaderboard. Keel is a local-first desktop app for macOS and Windows that captures what matters from your conversations into plain markdown files on your disk. Bring your own model - Claude, GPT, OpenRouter, or Ollama. Your context stays with you, not the vendor. Open source, MIT. https://keel-labs.github.io/
On the analytics side, Keel competes within Artificial Intelligence, GitHub, Virtual Assistants and Tech — topics that collectively have 1.1M followers on Product Hunt. The dashboard above tracks how Keel performed against the three products that launched closest to it on the same day.
Who hunted Keel?
Keel was hunted by Medha Ghatikesh. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
For a complete overview of Keel including community comment highlights and product details, visit the product overview.
Medha Ghatikesh
Hey Product Hunt 👋
I built Keel because every AI tool I tried had the same problem: my context lived inside someone else's product. The notes, the history, the slowly-built understanding of my projects - all trapped behind one vendor's login. The day that model gets deprecated or that company changes direction, my brain goes with it.
Keel flips that. Your memories live on your disk, in plain markdown, in a folder you own. You can open them in any editor, back them up, version-control them, move them between machines. The model is the part that's interchangeable - Claude today, GPT tomorrow, a local Llama on a flight. The assistant changes; your context doesn't.
A few things worth knowing:
It's a real desktop app for Mac and Windows (Electron + React + TypeScript).
Bring your own API key. No telemetry. No account. No cloud sync (yet).
It's a v1 beta - Apple Silicon only, no Windows/Linux yet, no mobile.
It's a one-person project. I'll read every comment here today; I can't promise to build every feature (yet).
Would love your feedback. Thanks for taking a look.