AirmailAI

AirmailAI is a fast, secure, and private bring-your-own-keys (BYOK) LLM chat application built and maintained by Blake Dev LLC. It is open source under the Apache 2.0 license and available both as a hosted web app at airmailai.net and as a Chrome Web Store browser extension. The tool requires no account and adds zero markup to provider API costs.

What It Is

AirmailAI is a browser-based chat interface that lets users bring their own API keys for frontier AI providers — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and OpenRouter — and chat with those models in a single unified UI. It is architected as two components: a website that serves as the chat UI, and a browser extension that stores API keys locally and makes provider API calls directly. Because the extension acts as the backend, conversations never pass through AirmailAI's own servers.

Privacy-First Architecture

The core design principle of AirmailAI is that your data stays on your device. Messages, attachments, system prompts, and model settings travel from the website UI to the browser extension, then directly to the provider and back — never touching AirmailAI servers. API keys are stored using the Chromium extension security model, which isolates them from websites and other extensions. The AirmailAI website itself cannot read back a saved key; it can only ask the extension to make a provider request or delete the key. The project's FAQ notes that the only data collected is aggregate CDN-level analytics via AWS CloudFront (referrer domain, device type, browser, OS, country) in a rolling 60-day window, with no per-request data retained.

How the Extension Model Works

AirmailAI requires a desktop Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, or Brave) and its companion browser extension. The extension is the reason AirmailAI can safely handle API keys: calling provider APIs directly from a website would expose keys to any script running on the page, whereas the extension keeps keys isolated. This architecture also allows the website to function with no backend servers of its own. Chat history, files, and API keys are stored locally and are not synced unless the user's browser account sync is enabled for extension data.

Supported Providers and Features

• LLM APIs: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter (with more planned)
• File uploads: Supported; file type availability depends on the provider
• Web search: Available within the chat UI
• Chat import/export: Export individual or bulk chats; import from AirmailAI, LM Studio, and SillyTavern formats
• Free models: OpenRouter's free-tier models can be used without any API spend
• No account required: Users only need API keys from their chosen providers

Open-Source Deployment Model

AirmailAI's source code is publicly available on GitHub under the Apache License 2.0. The repository is written primarily in TypeScript and uses Bun as the runtime. Developers can run the project locally by building the extension with localhost access enabled and serving the website at a local port. The Chrome Web Store version of the extension is locked to airmailai.net, so local development requires a separate local build. The project is not currently accepting pull requests, but bug reports and feature requests are welcome via GitHub Issues.