Stitch is a free, open-source AI desktop app for Mac and Windows from UseStitch. The official site describes it as a “free, open-source desktop app that manages your emails, records meetings, tracks your todos, automates daily workflows, and remembers what matters,” and it runs on your own machine rather than in the cloud. Its defining trait is that there are no sign-ups and no telemetry — you download the app and start using it. You choose which AI model to use from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, or a local model, bringing your own API key (BYOK). It is MIT licensed, with the source code published on GitHub.
Key Features
- Local-first design: Conversations and notes are stored locally in SQLite, with vector data for semantic search in LanceDB. No cloud account is required, and there are no sign-ups, telemetry, or analytics
- Email and calendar management: Connects to Gmail and Google Calendar so it can sort incoming mail and check or adjust your schedule. Connectors for Google Drive are available as well
- Meeting recording and transcription: Captures audio from Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack, or Discord and transcribes it locally, so meeting notes never have to leave your machine
- Agenda and todos: A built-in task manager with priorities and due dates, letting you turn a chat exchange straight into a task
- Daily automations: Turns a one-off chat exchange into a recurring workflow — a good fit for routine morning checks and similar chores
- Memory and extensibility: Remembers your preferences and past interactions and applies them to what it does next. It supports MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers and community-built Skills for extra capabilities
- File operations and shell execution: Reads and writes files, runs shell commands, searches code, and browses the web. It is designed to ask for approval before sensitive actions
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| The app itself | $0 (MIT license) | All features, no limits, no account required |
| Model usage | Pay-as-you-go with each AI provider | Bring your own OpenAI / Anthropic / Google API key. No extra cost with a local model |
| Managed service | Not yet available (announced as coming soon) | Details and pricing not published |
Pricing is current as of August 2026. Check the official site for the latest details.
The app is free, but using cloud models means paying each provider’s API fees separately. Connect a local model and even that cost goes away.
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- No account required — download and start using it right away
- Data stays on your machine, which makes it easier to handle sensitive material like work email and meeting audio
- MIT-licensed open source, so you can inspect and modify the implementation yourself
- Email, calendar, meeting notes, tasks, and automation all live in one app
- Free choice of model: a local model when cost matters, a frontier model when accuracy does
⚠️ Cons
- You need to obtain and configure API keys, so initial setup takes more effort than a typical SaaS product
- With cloud models, API costs vary with usage and are harder to predict
- Releases land every few days, so behavior can shift between versions (versions were in the 0.7 series as of August 2026)
- There is no official support desk or SLA; troubleshooting happens mainly through GitHub issues
- Because it performs file operations and shell commands, you have to decide how far to let it act
Comparison with Similar Services
| Criteria | Stitch | Claude Desktop | Raycast | Granola |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form factor | Open-source desktop app | Official desktop app | Launcher-style desktop app | Meeting-notes-focused app |
| Main use | Unified email, meetings, tasks, automation | Delegating conversation and file work | Speeding up launching and search | Recording and summarizing meetings |
| Where data lives | Primarily local | Cloud (account required) | Partly cloud | Partly cloud |
| Model choice | Bring your own, multiple providers | Anthropic models | Provided by the vendor | Provided by the vendor |
| Price | App is free (API fees separate) | Free and paid plans | Free and paid plans | Free and paid plans |
| License | MIT (open source) | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
Who Is It For
- People who want AI to handle work email or meeting audio they would rather not hand to an outside service
- People who already hold OpenAI or Anthropic API keys and want a daily AI assistant without adding another subscription
- People whose email, calendar, tasks, and meeting notes are scattered across apps and want them in one place
- People with hardware to run local models who want to try AI that involves no network traffic
- People who value open source and want to review the implementation before adopting it
Summary
Stitch is an AI desktop app that commits fully to keeping the everyday scaffolding of work — email, meeting notes, task management, daily automation — on your own machine. No account, an MIT license, and bring-your-own models make it a fit for anyone who wants control over where their data sits and what it costs. On the other hand it assumes you can supply API keys, and development is moving fast with the design still in flux, so it is best to start with low-stakes work and get a feel for which actions you want it to ask about.