Get started with aixplain Desktop

aixplain Desktop is the aixplain app for your computer. It brings Omni, Koder and Design into one app, along with Scan for security reviews and Agents for building and deploying your own agents. Your sessions and settings stay on your computer, and you choose which model does the work. This article explains what each part does, how to install the app, connect a model and choose permissions, how to update or remove it and what it can't do yet.

What is aixplain Desktop?

aixplain Desktop is where you work with aixplain agents on your own machine. You describe what you want in plain language, the agent does the steps, and you follow along, answer its questions and approve anything risky. It installs as aixplain and shows up under that name in Applications, Spotlight, Launchpad, the Dock and the Start menu.

What's inside

• Omni: a personal assistant for the work around the code: drafting, planning, documents, numbers and the apps you connect.
• Koder: an AI coding agent. It reads your code, makes edits you review line by line, runs your tests and asks before anything risky.
• Scan: security review for a repository. It lists likely security bugs worst first, traces how each one is reached and can propose a fix.
• Design: landing pages, dashboards, app screens, slide decks, animated intros and vertical video, built as files in your project.
• Agents: build, test and deploy your own agents, with Omni or in code. Deploy each one on cloud, where it runs 24/7, or on your own servers.
• Your phone as a remote: pair a phone or tablet with your computer to follow chats, answer questions and approve steps when you're away from your desk. See Pair your phone or tablet.

The same agent also runs in your terminal through the koder command. See Use aixplain from the terminal below.

Install aixplain Desktop

Requirements

• A supported computer: macOS on Apple silicon or Intel, Windows x64 or Linux x64 (DEB, RPM or AppImage). The CLI and terminal app also run on Linux arm64.
• A model to work with: a free aixplain account (no card needed), a Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor plan you already pay for, your own provider key or a local model.

Download and install

1. Go to aixplain.com/koder and pick the installer for your computer, or download it from the table below.
2. Open the installer. On macOS, open the DMG and move aixplain to your Applications folder. On Windows, run the installer. On Linux, install the DEB or RPM package, or make the AppImage executable and run it.
3. Open aixplain.

Sign in

The first time you open the app, it asks you to sign in to aixplain. Your browser opens to finish signing in, and the app also shows the sign-in link with a Copy button in case the browser doesn't open. Signing up is free, with no card needed, and new accounts start with free credits. For your account and team, see Account, plans and billing.

Choose a model

Pick the model that does the work. You can change it at any time from the model picker in the chat box.

Use aixplain models

Sign in to aixplain to use its catalog of hosted models, including open-weight models. New accounts start on Athena, aixplain's meta-model. For every request, Athena chooses how to answer from several models, so you get a fitting model without picking one yourself. If your workspace's catalog doesn't include Athena, the app starts you on GLM 5.3.

The model picker opens on a short list: top coding models, models on a free offer and your recent picks. Each row shows the price per million tokens. Search covers every model from the first letter you type, and hovering a model shows its data retention, limits, price and host.

To see only the models the catalog reports as zero data retention, pick ZDR only in the model picker, or run koder models --zdr in the terminal.

Use a plan you already have

Install the vendor's CLI (Claude Code, Codex CLI or Cursor's cursor-agent) and sign in to it with your plan's account. The app finds installed CLIs automatically, including ones behind version managers. Check where each plan stands in Settings → Models & providers → Your subscriptions. For the details, see Get started with Koder.

Connect your own provider

1. Open Settings → Models & providers.
2. Choose the provider and add your API key, or add any chat-completions-compatible endpoint by its base URL.
3. Pick one of its models in the model picker.

Run a model on your computer

A local model runs on your own machine, so inference stays there and doesn't count toward your usage.

1. Start setting up a local model in the app.
2. Pick the suggested model, or another one. The app looks at your computer's memory, graphics and free disk and suggests a model that fits.
3. Wait for the download and setup to finish. The app checks that the model actually answers before it offers it.
4. Pick the local model in the model picker.

If Ollama is already running, the app finds it with no setup and reads which models can chat, call tools and accept images. It can also use a llama-server or LM Studio that is already running on your computer.

Switch models

Open the model picker in the chat box and pick another model. The chat box shows the full name of the model in use and the thinking level the request really uses.

• Images and PDFs: if the model you picked can't read an attachment, the app tells you before it sends the message.
• Another agent: you can hand a chat to another agent partway through, and the app sizes what it carries over to fit that agent's model.

In the terminal, run koder models to list your models, or add --model <provider/model> to koder run to pick one for a single run.

Choose how much the agent does on its own

Pick an access mode from the Permissions menu in the chat box.

In Ask first, every action that changes something waits for your approval: shell commands, file edits, code runs, package installs, MCP and connected-app actions, schedules, worktrees and workflows. Edit approvals show the diff before you allow the change. Auto and Full access keep working on their own after the first reply until the task is done or something needs you.

What always asks first

Some actions ask in every mode, including Full access:

• Pushing code
• Deleting folders or force-deleting files
• Deleting a file through an edit or patch
• Spending money
• Reading secret files
• Changing the folders that define agents, modes and commands

Changes to those folders ask however the path is written, through a link, or by a copy or move into them. Scheduled runs refuse all of these actions and record why. With a Claude plan, Claude Code runs as a full agent, but its tool use still goes through the app's permissions.

Secret files

Files such as .env can hold passwords or keys, so they always ask before they are read, in every mode. This includes reads inside shell commands such as cat, grep, head, cp or source. The approval names the exact file and says it can hold passwords or keys. If you select Always allow on a secret file, it covers only that file, not every secret file.

Workspace trust

Workspace trust decides which projects' own configuration the app honors. In a folder you haven't trusted, the project's own configuration isn't applied, browser control and device control are ignored, and an external coding agent doesn't load that repository's agent settings. To decide which folders are trusted, run koder trust.

Check your permission policy

Your permissions come from several layers: your access mode, your rules and the project's configuration. These commands show what is in effect:

Set autonomy in the terminal

The terminal app has five levels. Switch with /auto followed by the level, for example /auto ask.

When Auto refuses something, such as a push, the terminal says what was outside Auto and how to allow it: switch to Full with /auto full, or to Rules or Ask.

Work with Omni on your desktop

Select Omni to hand off work that isn't code: drafting, planning, documents, numbers and the apps you connect in Omni settings → Connect your apps. Anything that sends, creates, changes or deletes something is approved one call at a time. Omni in the desktop app and Omni at app.aixplain.com are separate and don't sync yet. See Get started with Omni.

Code with Koder

Select Koder, open a project folder and describe a task in plain language, or pick a starter such as find and fix a bug or review my changes. Follow the steps, answer its questions, then read everything the session changed in the Review panel and commit from the app. For planning, AGENTS.md, MCP servers, skills and CI, see Get started with Koder.

Find security issues with Scan

Scan reads a repository for security bugs and lists what it finds, worst first, each with a trace of how an attacker's input reaches it. Open a project in the sidebar and select Security scan, or start a new chat and choose Check for security bugs. Scan reads the code but doesn't run it yet, so every finding is a likely issue. See Find security issues with Scan.

Make screens, slides and video with Design

Select Design and describe a landing page, a dashboard, an app screen, a slide deck, an animated intro or a vertical video. Design builds it as files in your project and shows it beside the conversation. See Make screens, slides and video with Design.

Build and deploy agents

Use Agents to build an agent with Omni or in code with Koder and the Agents SDK, test it, and deploy it on cloud, where it runs 24/7, or on your own servers. See Build and deploy agents.

Use aixplain from the terminal

The same agent, permissions and sessions run in your terminal. Install the CLI:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/aixplain/koder/releases/latest/download/install | bash

On Windows, in PowerShell:

irm https://github.com/aixplain/koder/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

Open a new terminal, then run koder in a project to open the terminal app, koder login to sign in, koder omni for Omni, or koder scan for Scan. Run koder --help for every command in your installed version.

Pair your phone or tablet

Remote access pairs a phone or tablet with the computer where the app runs, from version 0.5.0 of the app and the koder CLI. A paired device can follow chats, answer questions, approve steps and notify you when a chat needs you, all in an installable web app.

1. On your computer, open a terminal and run koder pair.
2. Follow what it shows to connect your phone or tablet.
3. On your phone, open the web app and install it if you want it on your home screen.
4. Allow notifications so you know when a chat needs you.

The device connects directly when it is on the same network as your computer, or through an encrypted relay when you are away. Both connections are encrypted, and a device sees only what its pairing allows. The agent keeps running on your computer, so keep your computer on while you follow along.

Update aixplain Desktop

The app checks for updates when it starts and downloads them in the background. When an update is ready, select Restart and install. On macOS, the install step runs before the restart, so the restart is quick. To update by hand, download the current installer from aixplain.com/koder and install it over your current app.

Updating keeps your sessions, saved permissions, schedules and theme. On Windows, a failed install can roll back to the version you had. Read the release notes for what changed in each version.

Update the CLI

koder upgrade
koder --version

In the terminal app, a one-time notice and a badge on the status line tell you when a new version is out. Run /update to upgrade from there.

aixplain-code is the CLI's legacy name. It still works as an alias for koder, so scripts that use it keep running.

Where your data lives

XDG environment settings can change the first two paths. Protect these folders as you would your project files.

Uninstall aixplain Desktop

• macOS: quit aixplain, then move it from your Applications folder to the Trash.
• Windows: open the Windows settings for installed apps, find aixplain and uninstall it.
• Linux: remove the DEB or RPM package with your package manager, or delete the AppImage file.
• The CLI: run koder uninstall. It removes the whole CLI install, including command aliases, the PATH entry and other installed versions, with a guard against touching anything outside its own directory.

To remove your local data too, delete ~/.config/koder and ~/.local/share/koder, or the paths your XDG settings point to.

Pricing and usage

aixplain Desktop is free to download. What you pay depends on the model:

• aixplain models draw on your team's credits. One credit is one US dollar, and each model's price is shown in the picker.
• A connected Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor plan counts against that plan's limits, not your aixplain credits.
• Your own provider bills you directly.
• Local models cost nothing beyond your hardware.

To see credits, top up or add a card, open Settings → Account & usage. See Account, plans and billing and Pricing.

Privacy and data

• Stored on your computer: your projects, sessions and settings stay on your machine.
• Sent to the model you choose: the parts of your code a task needs go only to the selected model, and hosted providers receive the inputs sent to them. Pick a local model or a zero data retention model when that matters.
• Crash reports are off by default: turn them on in Settings → General → Privacy. A report says what kind of error happened and where in the app's code, never your messages, files, folder names or keys.

We never sell your data or train on it. See Privacy and data and Security.

Limitations

• Scan doesn't run your code yet, so its findings are likely issues, not proven ones.
• Omni on the desktop and Omni on the web don't share sessions or settings yet.
• Sign-in, hosted models and connected apps need a network connection.
• Full access goes back to Auto every time the app restarts, and a paired device can't raise a chat to Full access.
• Scheduled runs can't push, delete folders, spend money or read secrets, even when you would approve it.
• The desktop app isn't available for Linux on Arm yet. The CLI and terminal app are.

Frequently asked questions

Troubleshooting

For sign-in, model, connection, update and Omni problems, see Troubleshooting aixplain Desktop, Koder and Omni.

Get help

• Report a bug: use the bug button in the app, or open an issue on GitHub with your version, operating system, the steps to reproduce it and what you expected. koder report saves a bug report with the session, recent logs and version.
• See what changed: read the release notes for new features, fixes and known limitations.
• Report a security issue: email care@aixplain.com. Remove credentials and private data from logs and screenshots first.