Does Charyl run locally, without the cloud?
On self-hosted hardware capable of running a local model, yes — chat can stay on your own machine. On the box today, chat routes through Charyl Cloud by default.
It depends on the hardware underneath her, and that placement is automatic — never a switch you flip.
If you self-host on a machine capable of running a local model, Charyl checks for one first: a capable local model wins automatically, falling back to your own AI-provider key, and only reaching Charyl Cloud after that. On that path, conversations can stay on your own machine.
On the box as it ships today, chat routes through Charyl Cloud by default — the initial hardware is deliberately modest, and doesn’t carry a local model capable of holding up her end of a conversation. That’s a hardware decision, not a permanent one: local chat isn’t removed from the platform, just not switched on for the first release.
shipped The routing itself — checking for a capable local model before ever reaching the cloud — is real, and already verified on self-hosted hardware.
Research is the one constant
Product research always runs through Charyl Cloud, on any path, self-hosted or not — there’s no local version of it.
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The board opens with the first early-access cohort
Conversations move here once the board opens to the first invited homes — until then, reach us directly.