# Open source Instinct AI alternative If you want an open source Instinct AI alternative, start with what Instinct is: a personal assistant run by Spear Street Technology, Inc. Its homepage promises no new interface to learn. You text or call it, and it operates a phone or computer for you, much as a human assistant might. Its examples range from ordering groceries and sending gifts to disputing a bill, booking a doctor's appointment, and planning a trip. Krypton takes the opposite approach. It is open source, the model and the computer are your call, and every part of the stack can live on hardware you control. What follows compares public descriptions. It is not a measured benchmark. Based on public descriptions as of October 7, 2026. ## Krypton vs Instinct, side by side | Topic | Krypton | Instinct | | --- | --- | --- | | Product | An open source home for persistent AI teammates, currently in beta. | A personal assistant. Its privacy policy, revised August 26, 2026, describes an autonomous assistant that thinks, plans, and takes action on everyday tasks. | | Who runs it | You, when you self-host with Docker or connect the desktop and mobile apps to a server you operate. Prefer not to? Krypton Cloud (beta) runs it for you. | Spear Street Technology, Inc., trading as Instinct. The privacy policy describes a hosted service that uses third-party hosting, and nothing about installing Instinct on your own server. | | Source | Public on GitHub under Apache-2.0. | A hosted service. Under the terms, the company owns both the service and the technology that generates its actions. | | Model | Any supported provider with credentials you bring, a custom model server included. | No public model is named in the privacy policy or terms. Your submissions may be used to train Instinct's models unless you opt out in settings, and even then, items flagged for safety review remain usable. Training also leaves out Google Workspace data and Vault materials. | | Computer | Each bot gets a sandboxed desktop with a browser, terminal, and files, running on a team computer everyone shares or on a private one kept apart. Docker on your own machine is the default, and you can swap in E2B, Daytona, CreateOS, Boat, or a trusted computer of your own. | Per the homepage, Instinct handles a phone and computer the way a human would. Examples in the privacy policy include booking a ride, logging into an account with credentials you hand over, and booking a medical appointment. | | Connected apps | Pick Composio or Pipedream Connect, or install your own Treg, remote MCP, or OpenAPI source. The server encrypts connector credentials, and the API never hands them back. | The terms allow Instinct to act inside services you connect, including paying with your payment method. Linking Google Workspace grants access to Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Tasks, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. | | Ongoing work | Every bot has its own conversations, memory, routines, and history. Bots write facts to memory without being asked, and the team rules turn a procedure that worked into a skill any bot in the workspace can pick up. Routines are plain Markdown you can read, and they can run on a schedule. Bots can hand work to a peer bot or to a short-lived subagent. | According to the privacy policy, the assistant is built to be ready whenever you engage it and to plan and finish tasks within the permissions you give. | | Approval | You draw the boundaries. When a task crosses one, the bot stops and asks first, and every action lands in an audit log. | The terms say Instinct can act on your messages, purchases included, and that responsibility for those actions stays with you. Confirmation steps may be present, but they are not guaranteed to stop an unintended action. | | Where you use it | Web, Electron desktop, and Expo mobile clients. Add a Cartesia, ElevenLabs, Fish Audio, or OpenAI key and voice reads replies aloud, takes dictation, and lets you phone a bot. | By text or phone call, per the homepage. Its website, Mac apps, and mobile apps also appear in the privacy policy and terms. | ## Why an open source, self-hosted agent - Every line is public on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 license. - Deploy from the published Docker images or straight from source, on hardware you control. The desktop app can launch that stack on your computer or connect to a server you already operate. - Model credentials are yours to bring. Connector credentials stay encrypted on the server, and the API never returns them. - Routines are Markdown you can read. Bots stop for your approval at the boundaries you set, and each action is written to an audit log. - Web, Electron desktop, and Expo mobile are all clients of one API, so the same bots follow you everywhere. ## Try Krypton your way Self-host it on your own machine, or skip the setup with Krypton Cloud, now in beta. - [Self-hosting guide](https://github.com/krypton-bot/kryptonbot/blob/main/docs/self-host.md) - [View on GitHub](https://github.com/krypton-bot/kryptonbot) ## Instinct alternative: common questions ### Is Krypton a replacement for Instinct? Not one for one. Instinct is a hosted assistant you text or call, run by Spear Street Technology, Inc. Krypton is open source, built for persistent AI teammates, and runs on infrastructure you control. Each one goes past a single reply. The gaps are in hosting, choice of model, and who runs the computer. ### Can I self-host Krypton? Yes, today. Use the published Docker images or build from a source checkout. If you would rather not run servers, hosted Krypton Cloud is in beta. ### Can Krypton text, phone, or make purchases like Instinct? No. Those behaviors come from Instinct's own homepage, privacy policy, and terms. Krypton runs as a web app, an Electron desktop app, and an Expo mobile app. A Krypton bot works a browser, terminal, files, and desktop on a computer you run, and stops for approval at the boundaries you set. ### Where does the Instinct information come from? The Instinct column condenses the Instinct homepage plus its privacy policy and terms of service, both revised August 26, 2026. This page covers the personal assistant at instinct.com. Confirm a capability on those pages before you depend on it. ## Sources we checked - [Instinct homepage](https://instinct.com/) - [Instinct privacy policy, revised Aug. 26, 2026](https://instinct.com/privacy-policy) - [Instinct terms of service, revised Aug. 26, 2026](https://instinct.com/terms) ## Keep exploring Krypton - [Self-hosted AI agent guide](https://krypton.bot/self-hosted-ai-agent/): Install Krypton on your own machine with Docker. - [Krypton pricing](https://krypton.bot/pricing/): Free, Pro, and Max plans on Krypton Cloud. - [Long-term memory for bots](https://krypton.bot/memory): How Krypton bots remember your business. - [MCP app catalog](https://krypton.bot/mcp-catalog/): One-click apps your bots can use. - [Best open source AI agents in 2026](https://krypton.bot/blog/best-open-source-ai-agents-2026/): Libraries and apps, compared on the blog. - [Every personal AI agent compared](https://krypton.bot/alternatives/): The full 2026 roundup with licenses and prices.