n8n Labs releases Nod, a local personal agent for Mac and Windows
n8n Labs has released Nod as a research preview, a standalone personal agent that runs on a user's computer and works across connected apps and websites. The open-source app is available for Mac and Windows and does not require an n8n account.
- Nod is a standalone research preview from n8n Labs.
- It runs locally on Mac, Windows or the user's own server.
- The agent works across connected apps and websites without integrations.
- Nod is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence.
- Users pay their chosen AI provider and can set spending controls.
A personal agent outside n8n
Nod is being developed by n8n Labs, a new team within n8n that experiments with ideas outside the company's core product. It is separate from n8n and from the agents users can build inside n8n.
The app is designed for one person and connects to that person's accounts. Users install it on a computer, connect their accounts and give it a task without first setting up a server or cloud service. According to n8n, early testers often placed Nod between a chat assistant and n8n: the chat assistant is used for thinking and writing, n8n handles shared processes, and Nod takes care of ongoing jobs belonging to one person.
n8n says the release does not change the direction of its core product or its n8n agent. Instead, the research preview is intended to let more people use Nod and provide feedback about where it should go next.
Working across apps, websites and schedules
Nod has its own computer, described by n8n as a sandbox that runs locally, as well as its own browser. This allows it to complete tasks that a chat tool might otherwise return as a list of instructions. It can work in connected services such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Slack, as well as on websites without an integration.
Examples in n8n's announcement include cancelling a subscription, monitoring a price, finding and booking a hotel after receiving approval, downloading supplier invoices and transferring figures from a dashboard into a weekly report. Nod can also suggest jobs based on information in connected apps, run several jobs in parallel and handle recurring work on a schedule. Users can communicate with it in the app, Telegram or WhatsApp.
The company says Nod remembers months of conversation and learns user preferences. On LongMemEval, a public benchmark for long-term memory, n8n says it scored 93.2%. Users can view, edit or delete information Nod keeps about them. When connected to Gmail, it checks how a user writes so that its drafts can match that style.
Local execution, permissions and costs
Nod is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence. It runs on a Mac, Windows PC or the user's own server, with the AI provider selected by the user. The app can use an API key or a ChatGPT plan, and users can also connect an open-source model running on their own computer. n8n users can link an n8n instance so Nod can work with their workflows.
Nod operates inside a private virtual machine on the computer, and n8n says its data, memory and saved logins stay on the machine running it. Saved logins and cards are encrypted locally, while Nod enters them through private forms that the model cannot read. A separate permission check confirms actions such as sending, paying, posting or deleting, and Nod logs sign-ins, card use and actions in connected apps.
The software is free, but users pay their model provider unless they run an open-source model locally. Nod displays task costs, provides a receipt when a task finishes, supports a monthly spending limit and checks with the user when a task passes $5. It stops when a laptop sleeps, cannot make phone calls and currently has one owner per installation. A hosted version is on n8n's roadmap. Users can download Nod for Mac or Windows and inspect its code on GitHub.
