Cai Layer
Cai is a free, MIT-licensed local AI action layer for macOS — press ⌥C on any selected text or image to run AI prompts, shell scripts, URL shortcuts, GitHub/Linear actions, and more, with local processing by default.
At a Glance
- Solo developers on macOS
- Privacy-conscious AI power users
- Apple Silicon Mac users running local LLM stacks (Ollama, LM Studio, MLX)
- Linear and GitHub workflow users
- +1 more
AI Tools by Cai Layer
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Cai
Local AI Action Layer macOS
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Products & Services
Local AI action layer for macOS. Select text or images, press ⌥C, run AI prompts, shell scripts, URL shortcuts, OCR, translation, calendar events, GitHub issues, and Linear tickets. Bundled Ministral 3B (MLX) for zero-setup local inference; supports Ollama, LM Studio, OpenRouter, Apple Intelligence, and any HuggingFace MLX model. MIT licensed. No cloud, no account, no telemetry.
Community-contributed actions and destinations registry on GitHub (cai-layer/cai-extensions).
Privacy-focused clipboard assistant for Raycast that mirrors Cai's local-AI clipboard analysis.
Market Position
Cai positions itself as the open-source, local-first alternative to commercial AI launcher apps. The site ships dedicated comparison pages against Raycast, BoltAI, Alter, and ChatGPT. The differentiator is MIT-licensed code, zero-account zero-telemetry posture, and bundled local inference (Ministral 3B via MLX) with optional bring-your-own cloud providers — all wrapped in a single ⌥C keyboard shortcut.
Key Competitors
Leadership
Founders
Asís Ybarra
Berlin-based founder operating under Etc. Holdings UG. Previously co-founded Glazed (analytics for data teams and technical managers). Hunter and primary maker on Product Hunt for Cai. GitHub: soyasis (location: Berlin). Personal site: asisybarra.com.
Executive Team
Asís Ybarra
Founder
Solo founder; ships Cai under Etc. Holdings UG in Berlin. Previously co-founded Glazed (analytics).
Founding Story
Cai is a solo project shipped under the German UG entity Etc. Holdings UG (Berlin). Built as a keyboard-first, local-by-default alternative to cloud chat apps and AI launchers — the idea is that any selected text or image is a launchpad for an AI action you don't have to context-switch to use. Distributed free under MIT, with telemetry-free, account-free defaults.
Business Model
Revenue Model
Free and open source (MIT). No subscription, no trial, no account required. Optional cloud LLM provider keys are user-supplied and pay for usage directly to those providers (Cai itself does not monetize them).
Pricing Tiers
Full app, local Ministral 3B inference, all integrations. MIT licensed. Optional: bring your own keys for OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio, Apple Intelligence.
Target Markets
- Solo developers on macOS
- Privacy-conscious AI power users
- Apple Silicon Mac users running local LLM stacks (Ollama, LM Studio, MLX)
- Linear and GitHub workflow users
- Open-source community
- macOS power users running AI actions without leaving the active app
- Developers automating GitHub issue creation from any selected text
- Teams using Linear for project management triage
- Privacy-conscious users who want local-by-default AI processing
- Users replacing AI launcher apps (Raycast AI, BoltAI, Alter) with a local-first alternative
- Quick OCR, grammar fixing, translation, and clipboard utilities