What it is
Jan is an open-source desktop app for chatting with AI models. It can run open models fully offline on your computer or connect to online models such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. It supports MCP connectors and exposes a local OpenAI-compatible API on localhost so other apps can use the same models. A separate Jan Agent runs coding agents against a local model.
Jan is free and released under the Apache 2.0 license, for Mac, Windows and Linux. It suits people who want privacy and control more than polish. Local performance depends on your hardware, and Jan's memory feature is still listed as coming soon.
Best for
- A private, offline alternative to ChatGPT
- Switching between local models and cloud APIs in one app
- Developers who want a local OpenAI-compatible server