Slate: Open-Source macOS AI Chat App with Built-in Browser
What Slate Is
Slate is a native macOS application that integrates AI chat and web browsing into the same window. The developer created it to solve the workflow problem of constantly switching between AI chat interfaces and browsers when researching topics. Instead of adding AI features to a browser, Slate is designed as an AI workspace first, with browsing capabilities built in.
Key Features
- Native macOS app: Built with SwiftUI and WebKit (no Electron), which results in lower memory usage and better battery life compared to Electron-based applications. The trade-off is that it's macOS-only.
- AI model support: Works with Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), Gemini, and Ollama for local models. Users need to provide their own API keys.
- Integrated browsing: Each conversation tab maintains its own history, allowing users to ask questions, get synthesized answers, click into sources directly within the session, and ask follow-up questions with full context preserved.
- Content blocking: Built-in content blocking ensures pages load quickly and cleanly.
- Session management: Tabs can be grouped into workspaces that can be archived and restored.
- Open source: Released under the MIT license.
Current Status and Availability
This is version 1.0. The developer acknowledges there are areas for improvement, including extensions, better history management, sync capabilities, AI agents, and MCP (Model Context Protocol) support. However, the core workflow of chat → browse → follow-up is functional.
The source code is available on GitHub, and a downloadable .dmg file is provided for installation.
📖 Read the full source: r/LocalLLaMA
👀 See Also
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