How Stella Works
Stella is a personal AI assistant that lives on your computer — not in the cloud. This page walks you through how she thinks, what she can do, and why your data never has to leave your machine.
It starts on your computer
Most AI assistants live on a remote server. You send your question over the internet, it gets processed somewhere else, and a response comes back. Stella is different. She runs directly on your machine, with access to your files, your apps, and your browser.
This means Stella can do things that cloud-based assistants can't — read a document on your desktop, open a spreadsheet, navigate a website, or organize your downloads folder. She works with what's actually on your screen, not just what you type into a chat box.
Because everything runs locally, your conversations, files, and personal data stay on your computer. Nothing is uploaded unless you explicitly choose to sync.
From question to answer
When you ask Stella something, here's what happens behind the scenes.
- 01
You ask
You can talk to Stella by typing in her chat window, speaking out loud, or messaging her from your phone or apps like Slack and Discord. However you reach her, the experience is the same — just say what you need in plain English.
- 02
Stella understands
Stella reads your request and figures out what needs to happen. If it's a simple question, she answers directly. If it's something more involved — like “plan my week and email me the summary” — she breaks it into steps and decides which skills to use.
- 03
The right skills activate
Stella has a set of specialized skills she can call on. She might browse a website, edit a file, check your calendar, or draft an email — often doing several things at the same time to get your answer faster.
Browse the webRead & write filesEmail & calendarRun commandsSearch & research - 04
Everything comes back to you
When the work is done, results appear in your conversation. You can review what Stella did, ask follow-up questions, or just move on. If she modified a file or scheduled something, she'll tell you exactly what changed.
What Stella can do
Stella's skills cover the things people do on a computer every day.
Files, apps, and your desktop
Stella can read, write, and organize files anywhere on your computer. She can navigate desktop applications like Slack, VS Code, or your browser — clicking buttons, filling forms, and pulling information from what's on your screen. It's like having someone sit at your desk and help.
Browsing, searching, and fetching
Stella can open websites, search for information, read articles, fill out forms, and pull data from web pages. She uses a real browser, so she sees pages the same way you do — not a simplified version.
Gmail, Calendar, and Google Drive
Connect your Google account and Stella can search your email, draft messages, check your calendar, schedule events, find files in Drive, and work with Google Docs. She uses the same tools you already know.
Schedules, reminders, and automations
Tell Stella to check in with you every morning, remind you about something next Tuesday, or run a weekly report. She handles recurring tasks in plain English — no apps or settings to configure.
Apps, images, music, and games
Ask Stella to create an image, generate a song, build a small app, or design a game. She works with media generation tools and can even build and deploy interactive projects you can share with others.
Five ways to reach Stella
Stella is designed to be available however you prefer to work — whether you're at your desk, on your couch, or on the go.
The full window
Desktop appOpen Stella like any other app on your computer. The full window gives you the complete experience — chat, settings, conversation history, and all of Stella's features in one place.
Quick access anywhere
Ctrl + right-clickHold Ctrl and right-click anywhere on your screen. A small radial menu appears with options to chat, capture what's on screen, start voice mode, or get a quick answer — without leaving whatever you're working on.
Just say her name
VoiceSay “Stella” and start talking. She's always listening for her name, and once activated you can have a full voice conversation. No need to click anything or switch windows.
From your phone
MobileStella can connect to your phone so you can text her from anywhere. She still runs on your desktop — your phone is just another way to reach her.
From your favorite apps
Slack, Discord, Telegram, TeamsMessage Stella directly in the chat apps you already use. She shows up as a contact you can message, and responds with the same capabilities as the desktop app.
Private by design
Stella runs on your machine. Your conversations are stored in a local database on your computer, not on a remote server. Your files are read directly from disk — they're never uploaded anywhere.
When Stella needs to call an AI model to think through your request, that communication goes through a secure proxy. But the proxy doesn't store your messages — it routes them and forgets. Your credentials are encrypted using your operating system's built-in secure storage.
Cloud sync is available if you want your conversations to follow you across devices, but it's entirely optional. Stella works fully offline for everything that doesn't require an internet connection. Your data is never used to train AI models.