Chat with AI —
without exposing your data.
Two commands. That's it.
The installation runs on your own laptop, on a company server or inside a Docker container — everything else is set up for you automatically when you start the tool for the first time.
Install & Start
pip install austraiaai chat That is all you need. Upon first launch, AUSTR.AI downloads every required AI model automatically, prepares the local environment and guides you through a short setup so that you can start chatting safely right away.
What happens:
- Models are downloaded automatically (~1 GB, one-time)
- Your browser opens with the setup wizard
- Choose your AI provider (local with Ollama or cloud)
- Start chatting — with automatic privacy protection
On your server
The installation is identical, but the chat becomes accessible from anywhere in your network. Your team members simply open the URL in their browser — on the desktop, on a tablet or on their mobile phone.
pip install austrai && aai chat Or with Docker:
docker run -p 8282:8282 austrai/austrai License
The tool is free of charge for private use. For commercial use in a business context, a separate licence is available upon request.
There is no registration required, no user limits are enforced and no telemetry is collected. For a business licence, please contact us at:
info@austr.aiWhat the new version can do
AUSTR.AI 3.2 introduces Skills (your own specialists), a local knowledge base for your own documents and an Austria-specific detection layer that catches addresses, ministries, universities and academic titles automatically — all without the data ever leaving your device.
Skills — your own specialists
Define your own AI specialists — a legal advisor, a code reviewer, a writing coach. Each skill bundles a system prompt with a recommended model and runs through the same anonymisation pipeline as every other message. Activate via the chat header dropdown or with a slash command like /legal-skill.
Local knowledge base
Upload your own documents (PDF, Word, text) into a project. They are anonymised before indexing and stored locally — never in the cloud. While you type a question, AUSTR.AI shows in real time which snippets will be attached. The AI receives only the anonymised version; you see the readable original locally.
Austria-specific detection
Five new detection modules tailored for Austrian content: addresses (street + house number + 4-digit postal code + city), nine federal states and seventeen major cities, academic titles (Ing., Dr., Mag., Univ.-Prof., DDr., BA MA MSc), more than fifty universities and schools (FernFH, FH Technikum Wien, BORG, HTBLuVA, ...) plus sixty federal bodies (BMI, OGH, ÖGK, ÖBB, OeNB, Rotes Kreuz, ...). Catches what generic English-trained models miss.
Five steps between you and the AI
Every step of the process runs on your own device, and nothing is sent to an AI provider without your explicit approval.
Live Demo
Try AUSTR.AI right here — write a message with sensitive data and see how anonymization works.
Demo uses <strong>Mistral AI</strong> (EU-hosted). Your text is anonymized before it leaves the page. Max. 3 messages per session. Use fictitious data or the examples.
Demo limit reached (3 messages). For unlimited access:
pip install austrai && aai chat Like ChatGPT — but your data stays with you.
AUSTR.AI is a full-featured AI chat client with privacy protection built into every layer. You can chat with the leading AI models, upload documents for analysis, redact images and transcribe audio — and every step of this processing happens locally on your own device.
Wherever sensitive data meets AI
Whether in HR, legal work, medical practice or for private purposes — AUSTR.AI protects your data reliably across every use case that involves personal or business-critical information.
Your data is already out there.
Every single day, thousands of names, IBANs, contracts and medical reports are copied into public AI tools — and the providers receive every piece of it.
Installation und Browser
The common pitfalls after installing AUSTR.AI — browser choice, updates, your data, stopping the server.
I ran `aai chat` and no browser opened
That is intentional since version 3.0: the server prints the URL and you open it in whichever browser you prefer. Copy the line that starts with http://localhost:8282/chat from your terminal and paste it into Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Ecosia, or any other browser.
If you want the browser to open automatically, use: aai chat --open — that starts your macOS/Windows default browser. To choose a different default, change it in your OS settings.
How do I open AUSTR.AI in a different browser than Safari?
Start the server without auto-opening: aai chat — then paste http://localhost:8282/chat into any browser you want. The server binds to both IPv4 (127.0.0.1) and IPv6 (::1) on localhost only, so every modern browser reaches it.
The chat window is frozen — nothing clicks, nothing works
That is a browser cache issue if you upgraded from an older version. Clear the cache:
- Safari: Develop menu → Empty caches, then Cmd+Q and restart Safari.
- Chrome: Cmd+Shift+⌫ (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+⌫ (Windows) → tick "Cached images and files" and clear.
- Firefox: Cmd+Shift+⌫ → select "Cache" and clear.
Since version 3.0 the server itself sends Cache-Control: no-cache headers, so this problem no longer occurs on fresh installs.
How do I update to the latest version?
One command:
pip install --upgrade austrai
If pip shows the right version but `aai` still runs the old one, clear the pip cache:
pip uninstall -y austrai && pip install --no-cache-dir austrai
AUSTR.AI also checks for updates itself on start-up (once per 24 hours, no telemetry) and shows a hint in the terminal when a new version is available.
What happens to my data when I reinstall or uninstall?
Your data lives in ~/.austrai/ (your user home directory). pip uninstall removes only the Python package — never your data. You keep:
proxy.yaml— API keys, allow/deny lists, settingsmappings.db/mappings.key— encrypted vault + encryption keyconversations.db— your chat history
Permissions are restrictive (0700 on the directory, 0600 on the key file) — only your OS user can read them. Other users on the same machine cannot. If you want a fresh start: rm -rf ~/.austrai/
How do I stop the server?
Two cases, depending on how you started it.
Default (foreground mode): Ctrl+C in the terminal that runs aai chat.
Background mode (started with --background): aai stop
Is my API key hardcoded in the package? Can other users see it?
No. Your API key is stored only in ~/.austrai/proxy.yaml on your machine, with file permissions that allow only your OS user to read it. It is never bundled into the PyPI package. Every user has their own ~/.austrai/ — no one else has access.
Does AUSTR.AI work on Windows and Linux?
Yes. Clipboard, background processes, port management, process termination, RAM detection and terminal encoding are all OS-aware since 2.3.0. On Windows: open PowerShell, run pip install austrai, then aai chat. On Linux: same in your shell of choice.
If something on Windows looks broken after an upgrade, pip did not pick up the new version properly. Force clean install:
pip uninstall -y austrai && pip install --no-cache-dir austrai
I see `Importing binding name 'signals' is not found`
That is the browser-cache issue — your browser is serving an old JavaScript module together with newly-downloaded files. Clear the browser cache (see "chat window frozen" above) and restart the browser. Version 3.0 prevents the problem by sending no-cache headers on every asset.
Does the detection also work for English or international data?
The primary detection layer (GLiNER) works multilingually and recognises English names, companies and locations reliably. Structured data such as IP addresses, credit card numbers, email addresses and IBANs is format-based and therefore language-independent.
Currently optimised for Austrian and German contexts are the specialised recognisers for Austrian UID, SVNr, Firmenbuch-Nr, Austrian phone numbers, as well as AT and DE licence plates. US-specific identifiers (SSN, EIN) and the UK NHS number are not yet covered, but are planned for an upcoming release.
Birth dates are detected in European (DD.MM.YYYY), ISO (YYYY-MM-DD) and US-American (MM/DD/YYYY) formats.
The terminal shows "Ready" then immediately returns to the prompt — is the server running?
That behaviour was a quirk of versions before 3.0 (detached background mode by default). Since 3.0, `aai chat` stays in the foreground and the terminal stays occupied until you press Ctrl+C. If you want the old detached behaviour: aai chat --background.
Free to use.
Made in Austria.
AUSTR.AI is free to use for private individuals. All processing happens locally on your own device, without telemetry and without any form of tracking. Install the tool with pip install austrai and start a protected conversation within seconds.
- Free for personal use — no registration, no usage limits and no hidden costs
- Transparent processing — every step of the data processing takes place locally on your device
- Local or cloud — Ollama for a fully local setup, or Claude, GPT, Mistral and Gemini via your own API keys
- Commercial use — a business licence is available on request at info@austr.ai
Tech Stack
Architecture
Using AI responsibly.
AUSTR.AI is a project by Florian Bieche, a communications consultant and AI enabler based in Vienna. In my daily work, I support organisations that want to use artificial intelligence meaningfully and in compliance with applicable data protection standards.
The tool emerged directly from this consulting work. Again and again, companies wanted to benefit from modern AI models but were hesitant to hand sensitive data over to external providers. AUSTR.AI is the practical answer to that dilemma: a local AI assistant that protects your data automatically, without forcing you to change the way you work.
Beyond AUSTR.AI:
- AI consulting for businesses
- Custom AI solution development
- Workshops & training on AI applications