Grove is a desktop app that runs single-player applications and agents in a secure sandbox on your own machine. Grove apps can connect to your services, work with AI, store data, and even read and modify their own code.
Everything stays private. And everything syncs across your devices, with clients supported on mobile too when paired with an optional sync server.
The Nursery lets you find and run apps made by others without giving them your data.
The operating system for personal agents and applications
Run apps and agents on your data without giving control.
Local-first, open-source, and secure by design.
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What is Grove?
Features
Data Sovereignty
Your Data Never Leaves Your Control
- Local-first: apps and data live on your filesystem, not in the cloud
- End-to-end encrypted sync — the server only sees ciphertext
- Self-hostable: run your own sync server, or disconnect entirely
- Open-source: audit every line of code
Security Architecture
Defense-in-Depth Sandboxing
- Four independent security layers: iframe sandbox, CSP, network filter, and local blocking proxy
- Apps get zero network access by default — every external request requires your explicit approval
- API keys and tokens never reach apps — all authenticated requests execute outside the sandbox
- Granular per-app, per-domain, per-endpoint permissions you control
Integration Layer
Connect Everything, Expose Nothing
- Plug in your own Google, Slack, Claude, OpenAI, and other accounts
- Apps call APIs through a secure proxy — they see responses, never credentials
- Connect MCP servers and let apps use tools without credential exposure
- Declare permissions upfront or approve request-by-request
Replication Engine
Sync Across Every Device
- Each app gets its own SQLite database with CRDT-powered conflict-free replication
- Settings, permissions, and app data sync automatically across desktop clients
- Background worker apps run persistently, with singleton coordination across your grid
- Designate workers to run locally or on remote headless clients — automatic failover included
Example Apps
Messaging Agent
A messaging app wrapper that classifies your inbound messages, writes drafts, and sends them for you upon approval.
OpenClaw Instance
An OpenClaw instance with secure, controllable, and auditable access to your data.
Scheduling Agent
A scheduling agent that manages your calendar, resolves conflicts, and coordinates across time zones.
Personal CRM
A personal CRM that self-updates through reading your conversations and keeping track of your relationships.
Newsletter Summarizer
A summarizer that reads and compacts your newsletters into one daily digest you can skim in minutes.
Self-Building Chat UI
A ChatGPT-esque chat interface that writes and updates its own UI to fulfill an eventual use case.
All without giving access to your data to yet another company, and without needing to trust app code due to Grove's sandboxing approach. These examples are live in the Nursery today, published open-source. You can easily build these things too with your favorite AI coding agent.
Getting Started
01
Step 01: Setup
Download the app
Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Install and launch — no account required, no cloud dependency.
02
Step 02: Configure
Connect services
Add your AI providers, email, calendar, and other accounts. Credentials stay local — and apps never see them.
03
Step 03: Activate
Build/install an app
Browse the Nursery for ready-made apps and agents, or point your favorite AI coding agent at the app spec to build your own.
04
Step 04: Replicate
Sync and multi-device
Optionally connect to a sync server to replicate across all your devices (eg. mobile or a headless worker client) with e2e encryption.
Built for Builders
Compatibility
Any static web app (React, Vue, vanilla JS) becomes an app
Self Hosting
Self-host a headless client (sees your data) for workers, or a sync server (sees ciphertext)
Workers
Worker apps for persistent background agents and automation via headless client
MCP Support
MCP server support for connecting AI tools
Self-Modification
Apps have full read/write access to their own source — build agents that evolve, rewrite, and improve themselves autonomously
WASM Runtime
Run compilers, bundlers, and AI models in-situ via WASM — apps can build themselves without a server