Pinokio is an open-source “AI browser” for your own computer: a desktop app that discovers, installs and runs AI applications and tools locally with one click. Instead of following long installation guides full of Python environments and dependencies, you browse a library of community scripts and launch tools — image generators, chatbots, voice tools, model servers and more — from one launcher. The project has about 8,300 stars on GitHub and is actively developed in 2026.
Pinokio treats local AI apps the way a web browser treats websites. Each app is described by an install/run script, and Pinokio automates the environment setup, dependency installation and launching behind a simple UI, with everything running on your own machine. Its scripting system can also automate multi-step workflows, manage files and control a built-in terminal, which power users use to build custom launchers and pipelines. Apps can be shared as scripts, so new tools from the open-source community become one-click installs for everyone. Scripts can declare menus, forms and multi-step actions, so an app inside Pinokio can feel like a small native tool rather than a raw terminal program, and installed apps can be updated or removed cleanly. Pinokio itself takes care of isolated environments per app, which prevents the dependency conflicts that plague manual installs of fast-moving AI projects. For many users it has become the default front door to the local, open-source AI scene.
Pinokio is free and open source under the MIT license. The AI apps you install with it are likewise typically free and open source; you provide the hardware.
Pinokio is for anyone who wants to run open-source AI tools locally — artists, tinkerers and developers — without spending an afternoon on installation guides for every new release.