Open Source · MIT Licensed

RoamSocket

A native iOS AI client — Chat, Vision, Voice, Code, and Study — paired with a desktop server that runs your coding agent.

$npm i -g @roamsocket/server

Free forever. Bring your own API key — or use any of the free models built in. No subscription, no upsell.

See what RoamSocket replaces

What is RoamSocket?

RoamSocket is a free, open-source AI client for iPhone and iPad. Unlike web wrappers, it's fully native SwiftUI — Chat talks directly to each provider's REST API from your device using your own API key, so there's no middleman server and no subscription.

Where it gets unique is Code: pair the app with the lightweight desktop server over WebSocket, and your phone drives a real coding agent — it clones a GitHub repo, plans, runs bash, reads and edits files, streams live tool calls and diffs to your screen, and opens a pull request when the task is done. This is the core value-add: remote coding running on your own compute, not a third-party cloud.

The app is completely free. Some models (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) require a paid API key, but there are plenty of free models available — you can use every feature without spending a penny. And on-device Metal (MLX) models let you chat fully offline, though Metal is not yet supported for the coding agent.

One app. Every way to use AI.

Six modes, all native SwiftUI. Bring your own API keys — they live in the iOS Keychain and are never written to disk.

Chat

Talks directly to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq, OpenRouter, xAI, Mistral, MiniMax and more — straight from your device with your own API key. No middleman server.

Code

Pairs with the desktop server over WebSocket. It clones your repo, runs the agent loop on your own machine, executes bash, edits files, streams diffs to your phone — then opens a pull request. No cloud compute involved.

Vision

Point your camera at anything. Analyze on-device with MLXVLM or send images to cloud providers for multimodal reasoning.

Voice

Live conversations with on-device speech recognition and neural text-to-speech. Fully hands-free AI chat.

Study

Snap a photo of your questions and RoamSocket builds flashcard decks with spaced repetition baked in.

On-Device Metal

Download MLX models for fully offline chat, plus Apple Intelligence (Foundation Models) on supported devices. Metal models are chat-only for now — coding requires the desktop server.

Chat

Every provider. One beautiful app.

Summarize the auth changes in this repo

Now write tests for it

RoamSocket chat screenshot

Keys stay local

API tokens stored in the iOS Keychain. The desktop server only borrows them per session.

Runs offline

On-device MLX models via Metal mean chat works with zero connectivity.

Open source

MIT licensed. Read every line — the protocol is documented in docs/protocol.md.

Up and running in minutes.

Build the iOS app from source, then pair it with your desktop.

iOS 17+ · Swift 5 · Xcode 15+Desktop Server · Node.js 20+

The iOS App

iPhone & iPad · iOS 17+

  1. 1

    Download from the App Store

    Grab RoamSocket on your iPhone or iPad — free, no subscription.

  2. 2

    Add your API keys

    In Settings, paste a key from any provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and more) or download on-device Metal models.

Download on theApp StoreDownload IPA
Build from source

The Android App

Android · Early development

Coming soon

The Android version is in early development. RoamSocket is coming to more devices while the native iOS experience continues to grow.

The Desktop Server

macOS · Linux · Windows

  1. 1

    Install the server

    $ npm i @roamsocket/server
  2. 2

    Start it up

    Launch the server — it prints its proxy URL and a pairing code, ready for external coding CLIs too (Codex, Claude Code, Aider, Cursor CLI, OpenCode).

  3. 3

    Pair from your phone

    Enter the address and pairing code — or just scan the QR code. Pick a repo, describe a task, and watch diffs stream back until the PR opens.

Full Setup GuideReleases

Questions? Answered.

What is RoamSocket?

RoamSocket is an open-source, native iOS AI client built in SwiftUI, paired with a desktop companion server that runs an AI coding agent. It includes Chat, Vision, Voice, Code, and Study modes, supports every major AI provider with your own API keys, and can run models fully on-device via Apple Metal (MLX).

Does RoamSocket work offline?

Yes. Download MLX models in Settings → On-device (Metal) and chat works with no network connection. Apple Intelligence (Foundation Models) also runs locally on supported devices running iOS 26 or later.

Which AI providers does RoamSocket support?

Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter, xAI, Mistral, MiniMax, Apple Intelligence, on-device MLX models, and any custom endpoint that speaks the OpenAI or Anthropic API style. You bring your own API keys; they are stored in the iOS Keychain.

How does the coding agent work?

The iOS app pairs with the desktop server over WebSocket. The server clones your GitHub repository, runs the agent loop, executes tools like bash, file edits, and git commands, then streams tool calls and diffs back to your phone — finishing by opening a pull request.

Is RoamSocket free?

Yes, completely. RoamSocket is open source under the MIT License with no subscription or upsell. Some models (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) require a paid API key, but plenty of free models are available — you can use every feature without paying a penny. The main thing RoamSocket adds is remote coding running on your own compute via the desktop server.

What do I need to build it?

On iPhone and iPad, get RoamSocket straight from the App Store — no build tools required. The full source is also on GitHub under the MIT License if you prefer to compile it yourself (Xcode 15+ and XcodeGen for the iOS app). The desktop server needs Node.js 20+ — install it with npm i @roamsocket/server.