Kompas

Kompas is a desktop app for capturing ideas, connecting them, and turning them into writing you can use. Local-first on macOS and Windows, with private sync and built-in AI options.

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Overview

Kompas is a desktop app for capturing ideas, connecting them, and turning them into writing you can actually use. It keeps reading, conversations, notes, and half-formed thoughts together so later sessions can draw on what you already wrote.

The product centers on a graph of connected sessions and notes. Free desktop keeps data local on macOS and Windows, while paid options add private cross-device sync and, on Pro Full, built-in frontier AI with no personal API key required.

What Kompas includes

Capture source material

Collect documents, highlights, voice notes, and web pages into a personal library so your material is available for later sessions and drafts.

Context-aware sessions

Start a session around a topic and let Kompas pull in earlier notes, decisions, and reading to ask questions from your own history.

Build a connected graph

Link sessions to decisions, memories, retrieved passages, and other notes so the graph reflects how one idea leads to another.

Write from remembered context

Move a session into a draft and keep your prior work close at hand while you write from your own thoughts.

Bring your own model setup

Use your own OpenAI or Anthropic key, your Claude Code or Codex subscription, or local models through Ollama on desktop.

Local-first or hosted modes

Choose between a fully local free desktop mode and Pro plans that add private hosted sync and, on Pro Full, bundled AI usage.

Where Kompas fits

Long-form research
Keep research snippets, highlights, and prior notes available while you explore a topic over multiple sessions.
Writing from your own notes
Draft essays, memos, or other argument-driven writing from material you've already captured instead of starting from an empty editor.
Decision tracking
Revisit prior decisions and the reasoning behind them when making product or business choices.
Obsidian and Logseq-style workflows
Extend an existing note system by connecting material and surfacing related thoughts across sessions.
Private local work
Use a desktop-only, local-first setup when you want your material to stay on your device unless you opt into hosted sync.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Keeps notes, conversations, and drafts connected in one graph.
Supports a local-first workflow on macOS and Windows.
Lets users bring their own OpenAI or Anthropic key, Claude Code or Codex subscription, or local models via Ollama.
Offers private hosted sync on paid plans.
Provides JSON export on either tier and local data ownership on Free desktop.

Cons

There is no browser app; Kompas is desktop-only.
Free desktop is single-device, with sync reserved for Pro plans.
Realtime voice and audio transcription on free and BYOK tiers require an OpenAI key.

FAQ

Does Kompas train on my sessions?

No. The source says Kompas does not train on your content. On Free desktop, your sessions, notes, and graph stay on your device; on Pro, your graph is hosted privately to enable sync, but Kompas still does not train on it.

How is Kompas different from ChatGPT or Claude?

Kompas is not a web app or a generic chat window. It is a desktop app for keeping documents, notes, conversations, and retrieved passages together so later sessions can reuse earlier context.

Which AI providers or models does Kompas use?

On Free and Pro Sync, you can use your own OpenAI or Anthropic API key, your Claude Code or Codex subscription, or local models via Ollama. On Pro Full, frontier AI is built in and no personal key is required.

Is Kompas open source?

Yes. The desktop app is open source under the MIT license. The source notes that cloud-only code for billing, hosted models, and abuse detection lives in a separate private repository.

Does Kompas have a web app?

No. Kompas is always a desktop app. Pro adds cross-device sync and built-in AI to the desktop app, but there is no browser-based version.