Is Asha free?
Yes. Asha is free, open-source software under the MIT licence. There are no paid Asha plans and no Asha account — you only pay third parties directly if you use them, such as your model provider or image provider.
Do I need an API key?
No Asha account is needed. Bring your own key from a model provider (BYOK): paste it into Settings and it stays on your machine. DeepSeek, OpenRouter and OpenCode keys all work.
What runs locally?
Speech-to-text and text-to-speech run on your Mac, and screen reading is local too. That's what lets the voice loop stay responsive without shipping your audio to a cloud service.
Is my data sent anywhere?
Only what you choose to send. With your own key, requests go straight from your Mac to the provider you configured, under their terms. We don't operate an Asha account or an Asha analytics service, and we don't receive your conversations. This website has no analytics or trackers.
What are the requirements?
An Apple Silicon Mac (the current build is arm64), a microphone, and one model key. An Intel build can be produced but hasn't been tested, so we don't recommend it yet. The packaged app doesn't declare a minimum macOS version — if it installs and boots for you, it works. Tell us if it doesn't.
How do I set up a connector?
Gmail and Google Calendar connect through your own Google project, so the setup is yours to own. Google's public-app verification is still in review, which means these flows currently suit personal and test use. Figma is simpler: paste a personal access token and Asha inspects files over Figma's REST API.
How is this different from a chatbot?
A chatbot answers. Asha acts and reports back spoken. It plans a task, delegates pieces to specialist agents, reviews the result, and can touch real things — mail, calendar, files, and generated media. The conversation is the interface; the work is the point.