Product · AI Providers

Bring your own AI.
On your terms.

Cloud, on-device, or fully local — pick the models you trust and point each feature at whichever one fits. Your keys stay on your Mac, and nothing is sent anywhere you didn’t choose.

Download for MacSee pricing
The providers

Five ways to
wire in a model

Mix and match freely. Use a fast local model for autocomplete and a cloud model for heavier work — or never leave your Mac at all.

Claude

Bring your own Anthropic API key for Claude’s writing and reasoning across every AI feature. Your key stays on your Mac.

OpenAI

Use your own OpenAI key for GPT models — and for image generation with gpt-image-1 and dall-e-3 when you want it.

Apple Intelligence

A native on-device bridge to Apple’s Foundation Models on supported Macs — private, offline, and with nothing to configure.

Local via Ollama

Run open models entirely on your machine over the OpenAI-compatible API. No key, no network — one-click setup gets you going.

CLI agents

Point Ampersand at claude -p, codex, or any binary you’ve configured, and drive it straight from the editor.

Per-feature routing

One model per job,
not one for all

Every AI feature has its own provider setting. Send autocomplete to something quick and local, route summaries and the agent to a stronger cloud model, and keep private drafts on Apple Intelligence — all at once.

  • Autocomplete as you write
  • Rewrite a selection
  • Summarize a document
  • Translate between languages
  • Grammar and clarity fixes
  • Expand a rough note
  • Ask about the current doc
  • Continue writing from the cursor
  • The agent, with tool use
agent · tool use
You  ▸ Draft a summary from my meeting notes.

Agent ▸ search_vault("standup notes")
       → 3 matches
      ▸ read("standups/2026-07-01.md")
      ▸ append(current, "## Summary …")

Done — added a summary section, sourced
from this week’s three standups.
Agent mode

An assistant that
can actually act

The agent doesn’t just reply — it uses tools to write and append to your document, read notes, and search your whole vault. Tool-capable models call functions natively; everything else uses a universal text protocol, so it works on any model.
  • Write, append, and read your notes
  • Search across your entire vault
  • Native function-calling or text protocol
Private by default

Your words don’t
wander off

Local-first isn’t only about files. Ampersand keeps your AI honest about where your writing goes.

Local means local

With Ollama or Apple Intelligence, prompts never leave your Mac. Point every feature at an on-device model and work fully offline.

Encrypted-note aware

Ask a cloud provider to touch an encrypted note and Ampersand asks first. Local and Apple models stay on-device, so there’s no prompt.

Image generation

Generate illustrations with OpenAI’s gpt-image-1 or dall-e-3 and drop them straight into your document, saved into your vault.

Prompt library

Save your own reusable prompts with variables for selection, document, and title — then run them from the palette or a slash command.

A note on keys

Cloud keys are bring-your-own and stored locally — they’re deliberately left out of iCloud settings sync, so your credentials never travel to another machine on their own.
Questions

Good to know

Do I need an API key to use AI?

Not necessarily. Apple Intelligence and local models via Ollama need no key at all — they run on your Mac. Cloud providers like Claude and OpenAI are bring-your-own-key: you paste your own key, and it’s stored locally, never on our servers.

Is my writing sent anywhere?

Only if you choose a cloud provider for a feature. When a feature is routed to Apple Intelligence or a local Ollama model, the request never leaves your device. And if you point a cloud model at an encrypted note, Ampersand asks for confirmation before anything is sent.

Can I run Ampersand’s AI fully offline?

Yes. Assign every feature to an on-device model — Apple Intelligence or a local model through Ollama — and the whole AI surface works with no network connection and nothing leaving your Mac.

Which providers support the agent?

All of them. Tool-capable models use native function-calling for the most reliable results, and every other model — including Apple’s on-device model — falls back to a universal text-based tool protocol, so the agent works no matter which provider you pick.

Does the AI cost extra?

No. There’s no AI subscription and no markup from us. Cloud usage is billed by your own provider on your own key; Apple Intelligence and local models are free to run on your hardware.

Get started

Put the model you trust
next to your writing.

Inline AI is free forever; agents and ask-your-whole-vault come with Pro. Download Ampersand and wire in your first provider in minutes.

Free to start · macOS 13+ · No account required