Practical overview
When it fits
Use Alice when you want a desktop assistant that combines voice conversation with memory and configurable tools, or when you want one interface for cloud and local model options.
Who it is for
- People who want a voice-enabled AI assistant on a desktop.
- Users who want to connect cloud providers or local models through Ollama or LM Studio.
- Developers who want to customize assistant tools with JSON definitions and local scripts.
Documented uses
- Make spoken requests and receive spoken responses.
- Keep short-term conversational context and structured long-term facts.
- Add local documents to the model context and ask questions about them.
- Use configured functions for web search, reminders, desktop actions and integrations.
- Connect an assistant to MCP servers or custom tools.
Requirements & limits
The project lists prebuilt downloads for Windows, macOS and Linux and is licensed under MIT. Development setup instructions require configuring API credentials; local model options are also listed.
- Alice is a desktop application, not an infrastructure service or model provider.
- Provider and voice-service choices are configurable; the README lists cloud and local options.
- Computer-use actions require user-approved permissions, with command approvals manageable in settings.
- The README labels fully local operation experimental.
- Custom tools are JSON-defined and backed by local scripts; only enabled and valid entries are offered to the model.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Add a custom tool in Alice
Register a JSON-defined custom tool backed by a local script and enable it for the model.
Before you start
- Alice is installed and available.
- A local script and its tool metadata and JSON schema are ready.
Steps
Open Settings → Customization → Custom tools.
Upload or drop the script; Alice writes it to
custom-tool-scripts/.Choose Add Tool, enter the metadata, paste the JSON schema, and save.
Enable the tool in the list.
Expected outcome
The enabled tool is offered to the model if its entry is valid.
Guide limitations
- Only enabled and valid entries are offered to the model.
- Tool execution details and script requirements are not specified here.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 14 October 2026
- Original website title
- pmbstyle/Alice · Official homepage title · retained in its source language

