What is HashCortX?

HashCortX is a local-first, open-source AI desktop application for developers that combines a multi-provider chat workspace, an autonomous coding agent, multi-agent swarms, 9 pre-built specialist agents, financial document analysis, security scanning, 3D planning, and a virtual project desktop — into a single native 8.9 MB macOS app built with Tauri v2, Rust, and vanilla JavaScript.

API keys live in the OS keychain. Files never leave your machine. There is no HashCortX backend, no telemetry, no analytics, no accounts, and no subscriptions. With Ollama, the entire app runs air-gapped offline. With cloud providers, every request travels directly from your device to the provider you chose — nothing passes through HashCortX infrastructure, because HashCortX infrastructure does not exist.

HashCortX is a free, open-source alternative to commercial AI coding tools like Cursor, Claude Code, Continue, Aider, and Cline — with a wider feature set than any of them.

Key facts

Why HashCortX

• Truly local-first. No cloud backend, no auto-update, no telemetry, no accounts. The binary phones home to nothing.
• Multi-provider by design. Ten cloud providers and Ollama for local models — all configured side-by-side, switched freely, with automatic provider failover in swarm runs.
• One app, eleven modes. Coding, chat, swarms, research, financial analysis, security scanning, 3D planning, ERP generation, virtual OS — without juggling separate tools.
• OS-grade key storage. API keys live in the macOS Keychain. Never in config files, never in environment variables, never on disk in plaintext.
• Tiny footprint. 8.9 MB — roughly 30× smaller than Electron-based AI desktop apps that ship at 100–300 MB.
• Open source under MIT. Read every line. Fork it. Ship your own version.

About this project's development

Product, architecture, modes, philosophy, and every idea in this app are 100% by Seif Hashish. The 11-mode structure, the local-first principle, the OS Keychain choice, the Permission Guard / Audit Log security model, the swarm-failover routing pattern, the pharma-informed source-grounding constraints in PubMed Agent, Drug Interaction, and Finance AI — every design decision was conceived and directed by the human author.

HashCortX was built with heavy AI assistance — approximately 30 million tokens consumed across Claude, GPT, and other frontier models during the v2.0.0 build. AI handled the bulk of implementation, refactoring, and iteration under human direction. Architecture decisions, security model, mode boundaries, and final code review were the author's. This is disclosed because HashCortX is itself an AI tool — using AI to build it and hiding that fact would be inconsistent.

All source is open at Hash-7777/HashCortX and reviewable line by line.

Screenshots

The 11 Modes

Full descriptions: Wiki → Features · MODES_GUIDE.txt

Supported AI providers

Cloud providers (bring your own API key)

Local models

API keys are stored in the macOS Keychain. They never touch disk in plaintext, never appear in environment variables, and are never transmitted anywhere except the corresponding provider's API.

Install

Quick install (macOS, Apple Silicon)

1. Download HashCortx-2.0.0-macOS-arm64.dmg from the latest release
2. Open the DMG and drag HashCortX to /Applications
3. On first launch: right-click → Open → Open (the v2.0.0 build is unsigned)
4. Open Settings → Providers and add API keys for the providers you want to use
5. Or skip API keys and use local models via Ollama

Bypass Gatekeeper (unsigned build workaround)

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/HashCortx.app

Code signing is planned for a future release.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/Hash-7777/HashCortX.git
cd HashCortX
npm install
npm run tauri dev

Build a distributable:

npm run tauri build

Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/

Requirements

• macOS, Node 18+, Rust toolchain (rustup), Xcode Command Line Tools.

Tech stack

The choice of vanilla JS (no React, no bundler) is deliberate — it keeps the bundle at 8.9 MB and the codebase auditable end-to-end.

Privacy and security

• No backend server. Every AI request travels directly from your machine to the provider you configured. There is no HashCortX intermediary.
• No telemetry. No analytics, no tracking, no usage reporting, no error-reporting backend. The binary has no network calls except to AI provider endpoints you explicitly configure.
• No accounts. No sign-up, no login, no email collection.
• OS Keychain storage. API keys live in the macOS Keychain. Never in config files. Never in plaintext.
• Permission Guard. Filesystem and shell calls from the coding agent are intercepted by a denylist-based gatekeeper before execution. Every guarded action is logged to the built-in Audit Log.
• Source-grounded modes. PubMed Agent, Drug Interaction, and Finance AI are constrained to never fabricate data.
• Air-gapped capable. With Ollama, the app runs fully offline.

How HashCortX compares

Detailed breakdown: Wiki → Comparison

FAQ

Is HashCortX free?

Yes. MIT-licensed, no paid tier, no usage caps. You pay AI providers directly for their API usage, or use Ollama to avoid all AI costs.

Does HashCortX work offline?

Yes, with Ollama. Cloud providers require internet.

Which operating systems are supported?

macOS Apple Silicon in v2.0.0. Intel Mac, Windows, and Linux builds are planned.

Does HashCortX send my code or data anywhere?

Only to AI providers you explicitly configure. There is no HashCortX server.

Can I use Claude, GPT, and Gemini at the same time?

Yes. Configure all your keys at once and switch freely. In Agent Swarm mode, automatic provider failover kicks in when a model fails or rate-limits.

Was HashCortX built with AI?

Yes — heavy AI assistance, approximately 30 million tokens consumed during development. All product ideas, architecture, and direction were by the human author. See About this project's development.

How big is HashCortX?

8.9 MB DMG. Roughly 30× smaller than Electron-based equivalents.

Full FAQ: Wiki → FAQ

Roadmap

• Code signing for the macOS build
• Intel Mac, Windows, and Linux builds
• Further extraction of monolithic source modules
• Permission Guard coverage for Virtual OS and 3D Forge native calls
• Additional pre-built specialist agents based on user requests

Suggest features via GitHub Issues.

Keyboard shortcuts

Documentation

• Wiki Home — overview and entry point
• Features — full descriptions of all 11 modes
• Supported Providers — provider list with model details
• Comparison — vs Cursor, Claude Code, Continue, Aider, Cline, Zed
• Privacy and Security — full security architecture
• FAQ — comprehensive Q&A
• MODES_GUIDE.txt — full mode reference

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, architecture rules, and how to propose changes. Bug reports and feature requests via GitHub Issues. Questions and ideas via GitHub Discussions.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Author

Seif Hashish — independent open-source developer with a pharma and clinical background. The pharma background informs the source-grounding constraints in HashCortX's PubMed Agent, Drug Interaction, and Finance AI modes.

• GitHub: @Hash-7777
• Website: hashcortx.com