Chopsticks HQ

Press & media

Chopsticks HQ is a small independent lab shipping free, local-first tools. Core Mac utilities stay account-free. LarkquillAI is optional email + password for chat sync and Pro — no Google or GitHub login. No product telemetry, no subscriptions. Use the one-liners below.

Contact

Press, reviews, collaborations, or “I built something with your tools” stories: chopstickshq@lam.ws

Press inquiry Request LarkquillAI review copy Share your project Launch copy (Show HN / PH)

Flagship — LarkquillAI-3.7

LarkquillAI-3.7 is the intelligence stack. The current Mac/web build is 3.9.2. They are not the same number.

One line

LarkquillAI — live Mac and web assistant. Plates, ChopCode, Kaji, Max. Ranked HQ facts plus live web; it does not fall back to a local knowledge base. Not ChatGPT or Claude: MIT source, no key from you, Agents + Chromium, csai CLI.

Product Agents (web) Kaji Changelog Product Hunt GitHub

Kaji

Kaji is the Pro agent: in-app WebKit browser, Mac folder tools with write confirm, and on the Mac app a headless Alpine command sandbox (not a Linux desktop).

Web Mac download

vs Claude / ChatGPT (safe to quote)

Product perks, not a model bake-off. They still win on images, plugins, and scale. Full table on the Online page.

Perk LarkquillAI Claude ChatGPT
No cloud API key from you HQ holds the live stack You are inside Anthropic’s product You are inside OpenAI’s product
Free Sky plates, no subscription 3.1, 3.3-Fast, 3.3-Thinking · 775k / 5h Paid plan for the full product Plus / Pro for the full app
MIT source + readable installer GitHub + a shell script you can inspect Closed client Closed client
Agents window + Chromium rail Chat, Search, built-in browser Chat app, not this layout Chat app, not this layout
Kaji (Pro, alpha) WebKit web computer, Mac folders, Alpine sandbox No equivalent in the Mac app No equivalent in the Mac app
Terminal CLI csai from the same stack No first-party csai No first-party csai
Named plates, including Max You pick the plate, not a hidden auto-router One product, their routing One product, their routing

LarkquillAI

One line

LarkquillAI — on-device Chopsticks HQ knowledge base. Separate Mac app and web app. No live model.

Product Web app

Other products

Fathom Air

Menu bar battery drain monitor for Mac — see what’s eating your charge, locally.

Product

Chopsticks Game Studios

CGS

Small studio. Sharp worlds. Games arm of Chopsticks HQ — Atomic Dawn and ARENA.

Studio

Atomic Dawn

Hold the night. Atomic Dawn 1 is released — macOS Apple Silicon on itch.io. Chopsticks Game Studios.

itch.ioAboutCGS

ARENA

Native macOS FPS from Chopsticks Game Studios — a new world every run.

ProductCGS

Lab facts (safe to quote)

  • Independent software lab at chopstickshq.com
  • Free downloads — no subscriptions or in-app purchases on HQ software
  • MacBar and Fathom: no account, no product telemetry
  • LarkquillAI-3.7 is the intelligence generation; 3.9.2 is the current Online ship
  • LarkquillAI: live models (no local KB fallback). LarkquillAI: on-device KB only (separate app, 3.6.10)
  • LarkquillAI: optional email + password (sync and Pro). No Google/GitHub sign-in. Mac app stores session in app defaults — no Keychain prompt
  • Max is a named plate (think-harder, 1,000 tokens per request), not a ChatGPT/Claude SKU
  • Kaji is Pro (five Fathom keys or founder). Web computer is an in-app WebKit view, not Chrome. Mac app: folder tools plus a headless Alpine command sandbox (no desktop, no guest browser)
  • Do not name underlying models or vendors in coverage; we do not pick them in the product hero
  • Open source on github.com/ilikemacos · v3.9.0
  • Latest: Online version.json · Offline version.json

Please don’t say

  • That Kaji is “Grok” or that the in-app browser is Google Chrome
  • That Online falls back to the on-device knowledge base (it does not)
  • That Mac file tools or the Alpine sandbox work in the browser Kaji (they live in the Mac app)
  • That the sandbox is a Linux desktop, SSH, or Chrome
  • That we beat Claude or ChatGPT on model quality, image gen, or plugin ecosystems

Assets

Screenshots and hero images live on product pages. Suggested picks: