AI agents
vellum-assistant
A personal AI assistant with eight kinds of memory that reaches out first
★ 1.2k
August 2026
MIT
AI agents
What we checked ourselves
Not copied from the project's own blurb. These are things we opened and verified, with the date.
- 23 Aug 2026We checked that the link to the project still resolves.
- 14 Aug 2026We read the licence text itself (LICENSE). No unusual restrictions were stated.
- 1 Sept 2026We read the project's own documentation and found no sign that development has stopped.
Where this sits among the 114 tools we list in AI agents
- Works without using a terminal21 of 114
- Commercial use confirmed as allowed95 of 114
- Requires an API key29 that do not →
- Sends your input to the provider11 that do not →
Only 16 of the 114 meet all of the conditions above.
Counted from our own checks: every tool we list is examined against the same criteria.
What it does
Remembers preferences, commitments and ongoing work across eight memory types, rereads its own notes hourly and messages you when something is due or unfinished. One assistant and one memory across Mac, iOS, web, voice, email, Slack and Telegram, connected to Notion, Google, Linear and others via OAuth. Run it on the vendor's managed runtime or entirely on your own machine — the choice decides where your memory lives. Pricing is not stated in the README.
Summary based on the project's own description. The Japanese page has a fuller beginner guide: setup difficulty, what to prepare, and a step-by-step start.
Screenshots & visuals
Before you start
- Setup difficultySome setup needed
- Command lineNot required
- API keyRequired
- Sends data onlineYes
Judged automatically from the project's own metadata. Always confirm on the official page.
vellum-assistant FAQ
- Is vellum-assistant free?
- vellum-assistant itself is free, but it needs an API key for an external AI service. That service charges separately, though some have a free tier.
- Do I need to install anything or write code to use vellum-assistant?
- You install it like a normal desktop app. No command line involved.
- Does vellum-assistant work on a phone?
- No. It needs a computer.
- Can I use vellum-assistant commercially?
- The licence is MIT, which permits commercial use. Conditions such as keeping the copyright notice still apply, so read the licence text before shipping it inside something.
How it compares
The conditions that decide whether you can actually use it, side by side.
| Tool | Command line | API key | Sends data out | Phone | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vellum-assistant (this page) | Not needed | Required | Yes | No | Yes |
| rowboat | Not needed | Required | Yes | No | Yes |
| Kai | Not needed | Required | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| openclaw | Required | Required | Yes | No | Not verified |
"Sends data out" means your input is uploaded to someone's server. Pick "No" when the material cannot leave your organisation.