Dyad is a locally run AI application builder designed for developers and power users who want full control over their AI workflows. It eliminates cloud dependency by running entirely on your machine, allowing you to build, test, and deploy AI-powered apps without relying on third-party platforms. Unlike Lovable, v0, or Bolt, Dyad gives you ownership of your code, models, and data—making it ideal for privacy-conscious builders and those avoiding subscription traps.
Built with React, Next.js, and TypeScript, Dyad integrates with major LLM providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, and open models via Ollama and DeepSeek. It supports Supabase for full-stack development, offers built-in security scanning, and deploys to GitHub or Vercel with one click. The app is cross-platform (macOS, Windows) and fully open-source under Apache 2.0 for core components.
What You Get
- Local Execution - Runs entirely on your machine with no data sent to external servers, ensuring privacy and eliminating API rate limits.
- Bring Your Own AI Keys - Connect your own API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen, and others—no vendor lock-in or forced subscriptions.
- Supabase Integration - Instantly connect to a full-stack backend with database, authentication, and server functions for building production-ready apps.
- Built-in Security Scans - Automatically detect and flag critical security issues in generated code with actionable fixes before deployment.
- One-Click Publishing - Deploy apps directly to GitHub or Vercel with no configuration, or export code to use elsewhere.
- Model Agnosticism - Supports any LLM via API or local inference (Ollama), including OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen, and more—with easy model switching.
- Code Export & Import - Fully export your app as clean React/Next.js code or import existing projects to continue development in Dyad.
- MCP Server Support - Extend functionality with any Model Communication Protocol (MCP) server to integrate custom tools or APIs.
Common Use Cases
- Building private AI tools for sensitive data - A healthcare analyst uses Dyad to create a patient summary generator using local LLMs, keeping PHI data off public clouds.
- Rapid prototyping of AI web apps without cloud costs - A startup founder builds a customer support chatbot using OpenAI and Supabase, then deploys to Vercel without monthly fees.
- Developing AI-powered internal tools for teams - A product manager creates a meeting summarizer with custom prompts and deploys it internally using GitHub Pages.
- Non-developers creating functional AI apps - A teacher with no coding background builds a quiz generator using Dyad’s UI and exports it to share with students.
Under The Hood
Architecture
- Clear separation of Electron main and renderer processes with strict IPC contracts that enforce boundary integrity between UI and system operations
- Modular React components powered by hooks and Jotai state management, ensuring scoped and predictable state updates across chat, apps, and integrations
- Drizzle ORM with type-safe schemas and migration-driven database evolution, fully decoupling data persistence from UI logic
- Layered dependency injection via typed IPC handlers that prevent cross-process module imports and enforce contract-first design
- Stateless UI components consuming data through abstractions, while business logic resides in isolated modules with no UI dependencies
- Comprehensive TypeScript interfaces and type-safe utilities enforcing structural integrity end-to-end
Tech Stack
- Modern React 18 stack with Vite, TypeScript, and TanStack Query for responsive UI and state management
- Electron-based desktop application with robust packaging and E2E testing tooling
- Drizzle ORM with SQLite backend and migration tooling for reliable local data management
- AI model integrations via standardized SDKs with custom protocol support for contextual reasoning
- Playwright for comprehensive E2E testing and Vitest for unit testing with DOM emulation
- Biome and Oxlint for consistent code quality, paired with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui for theming
Code Quality
- Extensive E2E and unit test coverage with realistic mocks and page object models for maintainable test suites
- Strong type safety enforced through TypeScript, custom error classes, and defensive parsing of critical inputs
- Clean, modular code organization with explicit separation of concerns between UI, business logic, and system integrations
- Atomic state management with granular subscriptions that minimize side effects and improve predictability
- Comprehensive testing infrastructure ensuring consistent behavior across desktop and web environments
- Consistent naming, well-documented test files, and defensive programming practices throughout the codebase
What Makes It Unique
- Native AI help bot with context-aware web search and reasoning, accessible via a dedicated endpoint without external dependencies
- Git-aware chat system that ties AI responses directly to commit history and versioned app states for traceability
- Custom XML-like attachment tags embedded in Markdown to enable rich, structured media and contextual data within messages
- Automatic version-aware backup system with checksum validation to preserve user state across app updates
- Session-scoped chat tabs with intelligent ordering based on usage patterns, preserving context without clutter
- Deep system integrations—Git safe.directory, media cleanup, protocol handlers—that unify local workflows with cloud AI services in a seamless desktop experience