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Contributing to Awesome Local AI

Thank you for considering contributing.

This list curates open-source tools and resources for running AI locally — on your own hardware, with your own data, without cloud dependency. Submissions are evaluated against that principle.

Core Eligibility Criteria

A resource is eligible if ALL of the following are true:

  • Locally executable. Runs on the user's hardware. Cloud APIs, SaaS platforms, and remote-only services do not qualify, even if they expose an "API" that resembles local tools.
  • Open source OR free-as-in-beer. Source available under a recognized open-source license (MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL, BSD, etc.), OR free binary distribution with no paid tier required for core functionality.
  • Actively maintained. Commits, releases, or issue activity within the past 12 months.
  • Genuine local AI relevance. Tools, libraries, frameworks, models, guides, or communities that directly serve people running AI locally.

What to Add

  • Inference engines and runtimes (llama.cpp, Ollama, vLLM, etc.)
  • Model repositories with downloadable weights
  • Local AI tools and applications (agents, chat UIs, fine-tuning frameworks)
  • Hardware guides and benchmarks
  • Setup tutorials and optimization guides
  • Communities focused on local AI (Reddit, Discord, forums)
  • Quantization tools and formats

What NOT to Add

  • Cloud-only services or APIs. OpenAI, Anthropic API, Google Gemini API, etc. — even if they have "local-like" SDKs.
  • Subscription resale, account sharing, or pooled-account services. Services that resell ChatGPT, Claude, or other paid subscriptions to multiple users.
  • Paid SaaS without genuine free tier. Free trials, "freemium" with crippled core functionality, and "contact us for pricing" services don't count as free.
  • Self-promotional content without technical substance. Blog posts that exist primarily to drive traffic to commercial services.
  • Closed-source commercial products without locally-running open-source equivalents.
  • Affiliate-link aggregators or coupon sites.
  • Abandoned projects (no activity in 12+ months).
  • Duplicate entries.
  • Resources requiring account registration to access core functionality (gating contradicts the local-AI principle).

How to Contribute

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Add your resource in the appropriate alphabetized section
  3. Use the format: - [Name](URL) - Brief description (under 100 chars)
  4. Verify the link works and the project meets the eligibility criteria
  5. Submit a pull request

Pull requests are strongly preferred over issues. Issues requesting addition without an accompanying PR will typically be closed without action.

Quality Standards

  • Link to the primary source (official GitHub repo, official site, or canonical project page — not aggregators or marketing landing pages)
  • Description should explain WHY the resource is useful, not WHAT it is
  • Active maintenance verified (recent commits, working install, responsive maintainers)

Section Organization

  • Entries alphabetized within sections
  • Resources fitting multiple categories: place in the most relevant single category
  • New sections require 3+ qualifying resources to justify

Submissions That Will Be Closed Without Discussion

The following patterns are closed silently:

  • Outreach via email or external messaging asking for "collaboration" or "partnership" instead of opening a PR
  • Issues that ask for our email address before stating what the resource does
  • Generic "would love to collaborate" messages without specifics
  • Resources that violate the eligibility criteria above
  • Resources that exist primarily to drive traffic elsewhere

Add resources via PRs. Generic outreach gets closed.

Questions

For genuine eligibility questions: open an issue clearly stating the resource, the license, and how it meets the locally-executable criterion.

For everything else: just submit a PR. We review on merit, not on prior conversation.