DarkGrid AI

Getting Started

This guide takes you from a fresh install to your first offline conversation.

1. Launch the app

Open DarkGrid like any other desktop application. On first launch it starts its local backend automatically — you'll briefly see "Connecting to local backend…" while that happens.

2. The setup wizard

The first time you run DarkGrid, a short setup wizard appears because you have no model yet. This is the one step that requires an internet connection.

  1. Choose a model. Pick one from the catalog. If you're unsure, accept the recommended default (a small ~2 GB model that runs on most laptops). See Choosing a Model for guidance.
  2. Download. A progress bar shows the download. Models are large (2–8 GB); the download happens once and is then stored permanently on your machine.
  3. (Optional) Add a knowledge base. You can download an offline Wikipedia archive and/or add reference folders now, or skip and do it later from Settings → Knowledge Base. See Knowledge Base.

The app checks your free disk space before downloading and will refuse a file that won't fit, so you won't get a half-finished download that fills your disk.

3. Your first conversation

Type a question in the box at the bottom and press Enter. The answer streams in word-by-word.

  • If you have a knowledge base set up, you'll see a Sources section under the answer listing the Wikipedia articles and reference files the answer drew from.
  • Use Shift+Enter for a new line without sending.
  • Click Stop to interrupt a response, or Regenerate to try again.

4. Where your data lives

Everything is stored locally in a per-user data directory:

PlatformLocation
macOS~/Library/Application Support/darkgrid-ai
Linux~/.local/share/darkgrid-ai (or $XDG_DATA_HOME/darkgrid-ai)
Windows%APPDATA%\darkgrid-ai

Inside it you'll find models/ (downloaded models), kb/ (Wikipedia archives and references), and app.db (your conversations and settings).

Next steps