License: Apache-2.0 Bring your own key
Let an AI fix your computer — without letting it run wild. Noah for Tinkerers is the open-source, bring-your-own-key build of Noah: a desktop app that diagnoses and resolves computer problems in plain English, with a safety harness around every action.
You bring an Anthropic API key; Noah talks to Claude directly from your machine. No subscription, no account, no backend.
Why not just point Claude or Codex at your machine? Raw models have no guardrails — they'll happily
rm -rfthe wrong thing — and sandboxed tools can't touch the real system you're trying to fix. Noah is the middle path: a real desktop agent that runs read-only diagnostics first, shows you the plan, gates destructive actions behind explicit approval, and keeps boot config, firmware, and security software permanently off-limits.
Noah diagnosing a slow computer, finding runaway processes, and fixing the issue in one click
You say "my computer is slow." Noah finds the problem, explains the fix, and handles it.
- Describe the problem — in your own words, no jargon needed
- Noah investigates — runs diagnostics silently in the background
- Noah shows you the plan — what it found and what it wants to do
- You approve — Noah handles the rest and confirms the fix
Every action is logged. Dangerous operations require your explicit approval. Noah never touches boot config, firmware, security software, or system-protected files.
Noah isn't just a chatbot. It continuously monitors your machine and can fix problems before you notice them.
Noah runs background health checks across five categories — Security, Updates, Performance, Backups, and Network — and gives your machine a score (A through F). Open the Health tab to see what's passing, what's failing, and one-click fixes for each issue.
Playbooks are step-by-step remediation scripts written in Markdown. Noah ships with 25+ built-in playbooks covering common IT problems:
- Disk space recovery
- Network diagnostics
- Printer repair
- Email setup
- VPN troubleshooting
- Backup configuration
- Browser security audit
- Performance forensics
- And more
You can also write your own playbooks in Markdown and drop them in — Noah runs them automatically or shows them as guided fixes.
When enabled, Noah automatically triages failing health checks, picks the right playbook, runs it, and measures the result — all in the background. Your machine fixes itself.
| Category | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Network — DNS, connectivity, flush cache, test hosts | Yes | Yes |
| Printers — queue, cancel jobs, restart print service | Yes | Yes |
| Performance — CPU/memory/disk, stop runaway processes | Yes | Yes |
| Apps — logs, clear caches, troubleshoot crashes | Yes | Yes |
| System — diagnostics, health checks, shell commands | Yes | Yes |
| Updates — detect stale OS, troubleshoot stuck updates | Yes | Yes |
| Security — firewall, encryption, endpoint checks | Yes | Yes |
| Backups — Time Machine status, backup verification | Yes | — |
| Knowledge — remembers your system, past fixes, preferences | Yes | Yes |
| Health Scorecards — continuous monitoring with A-F grades | Yes | Yes |
| Playbooks — guided and automated remediation | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-Heal — background self-repair on failing checks | Yes | Yes |
Grab the latest build from the Releases page:
- macOS —
.dmg(universal, Apple Silicon + Intel) - Windows —
.msi/.exe(x64) - Linux —
.AppImage
Noah keeps itself up to date after install.
Open Settings and paste an Anthropic key (it starts with sk-ant-) — or set
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY before launching. Your key is stored in your system keychain, stays on
your machine, and is used only for direct calls to Anthropic. Noah for Tinkerers has no
backend of its own.
- Looks before it leaps — always runs read-only diagnostics first
- Shows you the plan — you see exactly what Noah will do before it does it
- Flags risky actions —
rm,sudo, disk formatting, and similar commands require explicit approval with a plain-language explanation - Logs everything — every action is recorded in a session journal you can review
- Hard limits — boot config, firmware, security software, disk partitions, and system integrity protection are permanently off-limits
- Credentials stay local — API keys and secrets stay on your device and are never sent to any server
Noah for Tinkerers is built in public. Issues, ideas, and pull requests are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md to get a dev build running in a couple of minutes.
Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE.
For development setup, architecture, and contributing guidelines, see CONTRIBUTING.md.