whatisgithub

What is sage?

coniferkit/sage — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

★ 304Audience · developerComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · easy

In one sentence

A desktop app for running AI models fully offline on your own computer, with a Rust-based inference engine, a built-in editor and terminal, and OS-level sandboxing for agent actions.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Sage))
    Purpose
      Local AI inference
      No cloud dependency
    Tech Stack
      Rust
      Custom inference engine
    Security
      Kernel-level sandbox
      Explicit file permissions
    Features
      Editor
      Terminal
      File viewers
    Platforms
      macOS
      Windows
      Linux

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Run AI chat and coding assistance locally without sending data to a remote server.

USE CASE 2

Use the built-in editor, terminal, and file viewers as an AI-assisted IDE.

USE CASE 3

Let an AI agent take actions on your files while trusting an OS-enforced sandbox to limit what it can touch.

What is it built with?

Rust

How does it compare?

coniferkit/sageefforg/yayasupabase/examples-archive
Stars304303302
Language—GoTypeScript
Last pushed—2023-12-272023-02-09
Maintenance—DormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyhardeasy
Complexity3/54/51/5
Audiencedeveloperops devopsdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

One-click installer, no Docker or config files needed.

Free to install and use, but the code is proprietary and may not be redistributed or reverse-engineered.

So what is it?

Sage is a desktop application for running AI models entirely on your own computer, without sending anything to a remote server. The team built their own inference engine from scratch in Rust rather than wrapping an existing tool. The README describes the goal as keeping AI performant and local, with nothing leaving your machine and no accounts or network connection required after installation. Beyond just chatting with a model, Sage includes an editor, an integrated terminal, file viewers, and an IDE-like environment, so you can work with AI across the surfaces where you actually build things. A notable feature is the security model: all agent actions and tool calls run inside a kernel-level sandbox enforced by the operating system, not by the AI model itself. This means the AI can only access files and resources you have explicitly permitted, and that boundary cannot be overridden through prompting. The app is available for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows (x86-64), and Linux (AppImage and .deb formats). Installation is described as one click: download, open, and it runs. There is no Docker, no servers to configure, and no config files to edit. The app checks for updates on each launch, downloads them in the background, and offers a restart prompt to apply them. This GitHub repository exists only to distribute the compiled application and publish release notes. The inference engine and agent runtime are proprietary and ship as binaries only, no source code is included here. The application is free to install and use but may not be redistributed or reverse-engineered. It is built by Conifer Solutions.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Walk me through installing Sage on macOS and running my first local AI chat.
Prompt 2
Explain how Sage's kernel-level sandbox limits what an AI agent can access on my machine.
Prompt 3
What's the difference between Sage's built-in inference engine and wrapping an existing model runtime?
Prompt 4
Show me how to use Sage's terminal and editor together for an AI-assisted coding session.

Frequently asked questions

What is sage?

A desktop app for running AI models fully offline on your own computer, with a Rust-based inference engine, a built-in editor and terminal, and OS-level sandboxing for agent actions.

What license does sage use?

Free to install and use, but the code is proprietary and may not be redistributed or reverse-engineered.

How hard is sage to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is sage for?

Mainly developer.

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