Kollab, on your own computerDeveloper preview

Kollab, on your own computer

The same workspace you use in the browser, plus one thing the browser cannot do: the agent can work with the files on this machine — reading them, changing them, running the commands you ask for. Available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Apple Silicon, macOS 12 or later · Windows 10 or later, 64-bit · Linux, 64-bit x86

See how it works
Kollab, on your own computer

What the desktop app adds

Everything below is the difference between running Kollab in a tab and running it as an app on this computer.

This is an early build. It works, it updates itself, and a few edges are still rough.

Put it to work on this machine

Put it to work on this machine

Point it at a folder and ask. It can read what is there, edit files in place, and run the commands you would have run yourself — on your own computer, with your tools, not on a copy in some sandbox. Your computer makes the connection outward, so there is no port to open and nothing to expose to the internet.

It finds you when the work is done

It finds you when the work is done

Long jobs keep going while you do something else. When one finishes, or when it needs you to approve something, an ordinary desktop notification arrives and clicking it drops you straight into that task. In the app this is on from the start, where a browser tab has to ask for permission first.

Nothing to install alongside it

Nothing to install alongside it

Everything the agent needs is already inside the app — there is no separate command-line tool to fetch, no runtime to install, no toolchain to configure. On a Mac or a Linux desktop it also repairs the sparse environment an app inherits when it is opened from Finder or a desktop launcher rather than a terminal, so the commands it runs can still find the tools you installed in your shell.

Keeps itself current, quietly

Keeps itself current, quietly

New versions download in the background without interrupting anything. When one is ready, the Kollab menu says so, and installing is a single click on that menu item.

Menu bar and shortcuts

Start a task, search your conversations, open settings — the usual keyboard shortcuts, while Kollab is the app you are in.

Sign in through your own browser

Signing in hands off to the browser you already use. If you are signed in there, you come straight back into the app.

Links open where they should

Anything pointing outside Kollab opens in your real browser, with your real sessions and extensions, instead of a stripped-down window inside the app.

How it works

How it works

Four steps, and you only do the first three once.

  1. 1
    Install and open it

    Download the build for your computer and open it. On a Mac you drag Kollab into Applications; on Windows and Linux the installer takes care of it.

  2. 2
    Sign in

    Your computer registers itself as one of your machines as you sign in. There is no device to pair and no connection to set up by hand.

  3. 3
    Decide what it may touch

    A Kollab folder in your home directory is ready to use immediately. For anything beyond it, you pick the folder yourself in your system's own folder chooser — the app cannot grant itself a path.

  4. 4
    Ask, then approve

    Looking through a folder happens right away. Changing a file or running a command comes back to you as a request in the conversation, and nothing happens until you say yes.

Explore the connected Kollab workflow

Kollab works best when Skills, Bots, connectors, and ready workflows reinforce each other across the same team workspace.

What it can and cannot do

Access to your own computer is worth being precise about, including where the limits are.

  • Your computer has the final say

    The list of folders the agent may touch lives on this computer, and every request is checked against that local list. A scope claimed from the server side is not trusted and does not widen it.

  • Changing things needs your yes

    By default the agent can look around an authorised folder freely, but writing a file or running a command stops and asks you in the conversation. The request waits for you rather than expiring quietly.

  • Administrator commands are always refused

    sudo and its equivalents are rejected outright — including after you switch a computer to full access. There is no phrasing that gets around it.

  • Credential files always stop and ask

    SSH keys, cloud credentials, environment files and private keys are treated as sensitive wherever they sit, and come back for your approval even inside a folder you already authorised.

  • Device credentials never touch the disk

    The credential this computer uses to identify itself is handed to the local process in memory. It is never written to a file, and never exposed to the page you are looking at.

  • Only while Kollab is open

    The local side runs as part of the app. Quit Kollab and it stops with it — nothing keeps listening for new work, and nothing starts on its own when you boot the machine. A long-running process the agent started for you, such as a dev server, keeps running until it exits or you stop it.

Get the app

Mac, Windows and Linux are all available now. iOS and Android are being built.

macOS

Developer preview

A signed, notarised build for Apple Silicon Macs. It updates itself, so this is the last time you need to visit this page.

Download

Apple Silicon · macOS 12 or later

  1. 1Download the disk image and open it.
  2. 2Drag Kollab into your Applications folder.
  3. 3Open it and sign in — this computer registers itself and is ready to use.

Windows

Developer preview

An installer for Windows 10 and later on 64-bit machines. Install once and it keeps itself up to date from then on.

Download

Windows 10 or later · x64

  1. 1Download the installer and run it.
  2. 2This build is not signed yet, so Windows may warn you the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
  3. 3Open Kollab and sign in — this computer registers itself and is ready to use.

Linux

Developer preview

A .deb for Debian and Ubuntu, and an AppImage if you would rather not install anything. New versions download in the background — the AppImage replaces itself, and the .deb asks for your password like any system package.

Download .deb

64-bit x86 · Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12 or a comparable GTK 3 desktop

Or download the AppImage
  1. 1Download the .deb and install it with your package manager.
  2. 2Open Kollab and sign in — this computer registers itself and is ready to use.
  3. 3Prefer not to install anything? The AppImage runs as it is. Signing in returns to the app more reliably with the .deb, which registers the link Kollab uses to hand you back from the browser.

iOS and Android are still being built. We will publish them here as soon as they are ready.

Questions people ask first

Put an agent on the machine where your work actually lives

Open Kollab in the browser