Every time I used ChatGPT or similar tools the same thought crossed my mind:

"Where is this conversation going? Who has access to it? What are they doing with my data?"

So I decided to build my own solution. Meet CrustAI 🦀 — a fully private, self-hosted AI assistant that runs entirely on your own machine.

No cloud. No subscriptions. No data leaving your computer. Ever.

🌐 Documentation | ⭐ GitHub

The Problem I Wanted to Solve

Most AI assistants have one fundamental issue — your data belongs to someone else .

When you ask ChatGPT something personal, that conversation is:

Stored on OpenAI's servers

Potentially used to train future models

Subject to their privacy policy (which can change)

Accessible in case of a data breach

I wanted an AI assistant that was genuinely mine — one that I could use daily through apps I already use (Telegram, WhatsApp) without worrying about privacy.

What is CrustAI?

CrustAI is a self-hosted AI assistant powered by Ollama that connects to your favorite messaging…