FAQ

Is it really offline?

Yes. After the one-time downloads of a model and a knowledge base, the app needs no internet. Inference, search, and storage are all local. See Offline Usage.

Does it send my data anywhere?

No. There is no telemetry, no account, and no cloud service. Your prompts, conversations, and documents stay on your machine.

What models can I use?

The app ships a curated catalog of small-to-medium instruct models that run well on consumer hardware — pick one in the app and it downloads automatically. For most people the catalog is all you need. See Choosing a Model.

How accurate are the answers?

Local models are smaller than big cloud models and can be wrong or make things up. That's exactly why DarkGrid retrieves real passages and shows citations — always check the cited Wikipedia article or reference file for anything important, especially medical or safety-critical information.

DarkGrid is an information tool, not a substitute for professional medical, legal, or emergency advice.

Can I use my own files and Wikipedia archives?

Yes. Drop PDFs into kb/pdfs/ (and ingest them) and .zim archives into kb/zims/. See Knowledge Base.

What hardware do I need?

A machine with at least 8 GB of RAM runs the default model comfortably. More RAM lets you run larger, more capable models. A modern CPU works; a GPU (or Apple Silicon with Metal) makes responses faster.

How much disk space?

Plan for the model (2–8 GB each) plus your knowledge base. Simple English Wikipedia is ~1 GB; the full English archive is ~50 GB. The app checks free space before every download.

Is it free / what about licenses?

DarkGrid is free to download. Individual models and Wikipedia archives have their own licenses (shown in the catalog); review them for your use case.

Something's broken — where do I look?

Start with Troubleshooting. If a problem persists, reinstalling the latest version from the Download page clears up most issues.