Duct is open source end to end: the agents, the connectors, the prompts, the approval gate, the desktop shell. Download it and we run the service for you. Clone it and nothing touches us.
Free with your own keys, always · No account needed to run it yourself
01
Read access to everything is a lot to ask.
Duct reads your ads, analytics, revenue and session replays together. A tool with that view should not be a black box. Every API call and every prompt is in the repository, readable before you connect a thing.
02
The approval gate lives in code, not in a prompt.
The agent can propose a change and preview it. It has no tool to approve or apply one; that is your button, and the model never sees it. The doctrine links each rule to the file that enforces it.
03
One person cannot ask for trust. He can show the code.
Duct is built by one maintainer in Spain, with agents doing most of the typing. The roadmap is a public board, decisions are argued in issues, and a pull request from you or your agent gets the same review.
What runs where
Same code. Two ways to run it.
Download the app and we run the service behind it: sign in, connect a tool, ask. Clone the code and every part of it is yours to run. Here is what sits where, in plain words.
Most people start here
The desktop app
Download it. Sign in. Connected in two minutes.
Stays on your computer
Your AI keys · in the keychain Your ChatGPT sign-in
Duct carries for you · encrypted
Tool logins · connect once, every device Projects, briefs, memory · synced Teammates · one invite Usage stats · off in Preferences
Free. Bring your keys, or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for.
Google Ads, GA4 and the rest connect with one click. Nothing to register.
Your briefs follow you to your next computer. One invite adds a teammate.
Signed builds that update themselves. We run the service and the database.
Your AI keys Your tool logins Projects, briefs, memory The database Sign-in and OAuth apps · you register them Backups and upgrades
Kept by Duct
Nothing. It never talks to us.
Free. Same code, same agents, no held-back edition.
No account with us. Usage stats are not even compiled in.
Needs your own Google OAuth client before Ads, GA4 or Search Console will connect.
The database, the backups and every upgrade are yours to run and keep running.
Nothing follows you to another machine unless you host it as a server yourself.
How to self-host ↓For a rule about where data lives, or to read the code.
The full detail is in the privacy policy. Whichever way you run it, we never hold an AI key of yours: the desktop app keeps it in your keychain and sends it only while a job runs.
Run it yourself
Clone it. Add one key. Start both halves.
The backend is FastAPI, the app is Next.js, and one Makefile drives both. Add a model provider key to the env file and you are reading your own tools from your own machine in minutes.
The README is the source of truth for setup, and it also covers the desktop build with the backend bundled inside: SQLite on disk, loopback only, no account. CONTRIBUTING.md lists the checks CI runs.
terminal
$ git clone https://github.com/5hirish/duct.git && cd duct
$ make setup
$ cp backend/.env.example backend/.env.local # add one model provider key$ make serve-backend # then, in a second terminal:$ make serve-app
What will cost money
Free with your own keys. Always.
The MIT licence is not a trial. The agents, the connectors and the approval gate are the product, and they are in the repository. Run them with your own model keys, or with the ChatGPT plan you already pay for, and you owe us nothing.
What comes later is a paid plan that bundles the models, so a team can use Duct without anyone holding an API key, on top of the hosted service the desktop app already talks to. Nothing that is open today moves behind that plan. If that ever changes, this page will say so before the code does.
Questions
The ones people actually ask
Is Duct really free?
Yes. Duct is MIT licensed and free with your own model keys, and that does not change. You pay your model provider directly, or sign in with the ChatGPT plan you already have. A paid plan later bundles model access for teams that would rather not hold keys; nothing that is open today moves behind it.
Can I run Duct without an account?
Yes. Clone the repository, run make setup, add one model provider key and start the backend and the app. Everything stays on your machine or your server, and no account with Duct is involved.
Can I use Duct commercially or fork it?
Yes. The MIT licence allows commercial use, modification and redistribution. The only exceptions are third-party documentation under docs/guides and the Duct name and mark.
How do I contribute?
Start with CONTRIBUTING.md. Issues and discussions are on GitHub, the roadmap is a public project board, and agent-written contributions are welcome as long as the pull request says where an agent helped.