J.A.R. V.I.S
- Role
- Solo designer & developer
- Built
- Oct 29 – Nov 1, 2026
- Runs on
- My Mac, private by default
- Apps
- iPhone, Mac, CarPlay
A private assistant that asks before it acts.
A private AI assistant that runs on my own Mac on an open model, and works from a custom iPhone app by chat or by voice. It searches, writes, makes PDFs and decks, generates media and keeps projects organized, and anything that acts in the world waits for my tap.
The idea
The rules came first
I started with how the assistant should behave and what it should never do on its own. The clearest decision: the local model does the work, and posting, sending and merging always wait for a person.
Everyday work stays on my own machine, and the app reaches it from anywhere over a private Tailscale network.
Everyday work, in plain words
The orb
Answers
Captions
Documents
PDF viewer
Media library
What it does
- 01Talks and listensChat or full-screen voice with an animated orb. Talk over it to interrupt, or wake it with “Hey Jarvis”. Works in CarPlay.
- 02Gets work doneSearches the web, reads files, PDFs and decks, makes PDFs, pages and slide decks, and sets reminders that reach your phone.
- 03Creates mediaGenerates images and video through Higgsfield and files each result in the right project, never overwriting a file.
- 04Asks before it actsMerges, posts, messages, mail and deploys wait in one approvals inbox. Each approval runs exactly once and is logged.
- 05Manages projects by voice“Go to Night Owl” opens a project; “Create a project called Phoenix” sets one up with git.
- 06Hands off with permissionThe local model answers first, and asks before handing a big job to Claude Code on its own git branch.
Nothing goes out without a tap
Social post
Code merge
Voice mode
Projects
Folders
Any colour
How it’s built
One Mac, private by default
A Python server on my Mac runs Gemma 4 on llama.cpp with a streaming tool-calling agent, Whisper for hearing and Piper and Kokoro for speaking. The iPhone app is Expo and React Native with CarPlay; the Mac app is Electron with Swift helpers.
- Python 3.12, FastAPI, Socket.IO, SQLite and launchd services
- Tailscale network, macOS Keychain, device pairing with JWTs
- Claude Code and Codex through my own subscriptions, never API keys
- Up to five guests, each with private chats, memory and settings
Tools
- Python
- FastAPI
- llama.cpp
- Gemma 4
- Whisper
- React Native
- Expo
- Electron
- Swift
- Tailscale
