| --- |
| license: other |
| license_name: emu-eula-free-distribution |
| license_link: LICENSE |
| language: |
| - en |
| - vi |
| tags: |
| - on-device |
| - local-ai |
| - multimodal |
| - text-to-speech |
| - speech-to-text |
| - ocr |
| - desktop-app |
| pretty_name: emu — Local Multimodal AI Desktop App |
| --- |
| |
| # emu — AI For The Rest Of Us |
|
|
| **emu** is a **local-first, multimodal AI desktop application** that runs |
| state-of-the-art AI models **entirely on your own computer**. Chat with text, |
| images and audio; dictate by voice; have replies read aloud; and extract text from |
| documents — all with a clean, minimal interface, and with **no cloud account, no |
| telemetry, and no network calls for inference**. |
|
|
| A product of **CloudKites AI Lab (CloudKites Pty Ltd)**, Sydney, Australia. |
|
|
| > 💚 **Free to download, use, and share.** emu is distributed **free of charge**. |
| > You may use it and **redistribute the complete, unmodified installer** for free |
| > (no selling, no paid bundling). See **License** below. |
|
|
| > 🎉 **Latest release: version 2.0.0** — a ground-up "zero-config" redesign. See |
| > [**What's new in 2.0.0**](#-whats-new-in-200) below. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## ⬇️ Download — which installer do I need? |
|
|
| emu 2.0.0 ships for **Windows 10/11 (64-bit)** and **Linux (x86-64)**, each in a |
| **CPU** and a **GPU (CUDA)** edition — identical in features, differing only in the |
| hardware they use. Pick **one** from the table (or the **Files** tab). |
|
|
| | Your computer | Edition | Installer | Size | |
| |---|---|---|---| |
| | **Windows + NVIDIA GPU** (GTX 16-series / RTX 20-series or newer) | GPU (CUDA) | [**emu-2.0.0-windows-cuda-setup.exe**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/emu-2.0.0-windows-cuda-setup.exe) | ~758 MB | |
| | **Windows, no NVIDIA GPU** (integrated / AMD / Intel graphics) | CPU | [**emu-2.0.0-windows-cpu-setup.exe**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/emu-2.0.0-windows-cpu-setup.exe) | ~62 MB | |
| | **Linux + NVIDIA GPU** (GTX 16-series / RTX 20-series or newer) | GPU (CUDA) | [**emu-2.0.0-linux-cuda.run**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/emu-2.0.0-linux-cuda.run) | ~866 MB | |
| | **Linux, no NVIDIA GPU** (integrated / AMD / Intel graphics) | CPU | [**emu-2.0.0-linux-cpu.run**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/emu-2.0.0-linux-cpu.run) | ~119 MB | |
|
|
| **One quick question decides it:** **do you have an NVIDIA GPU** with Compute |
| Capability 7.5+ (GTX 16-series / RTX 20-series or newer) **and a current NVIDIA |
| driver** (see requirements below)? **Yes →** the **CUDA** edition (fastest; the GPU |
| runtime is bundled, nothing extra to install). **No →** the **CPU** edition (runs on |
| any modern PC; smallest download). AMD and Intel graphics are **not** CUDA GPUs — |
| choose CPU. |
|
|
| Not sure? The **CPU** edition runs everywhere — including on machines with a GPU — |
| so it's always a safe choice; you can install the CUDA edition later. |
|
|
| The **Windows** installers are **code-signed by CloudKites Pty Ltd** (Microsoft |
| Azure Trusted Signing); the **Linux** `.run` installers are served over HTTPS |
| (Linux has no OS-level code-signing equivalent). All editions are self-contained — |
| the GPU editions bundle the NVIDIA CUDA/cuDNN runtime, so there is nothing else to |
| install. AI models are **not** in the installer; on first run emu offers to |
| download the model bundle(s) you choose into your local models folder, after which |
| everything runs offline. |
|
|
| 📄 **Need help choosing or installing?** See |
| [**Download & Installation Guide (PDF)**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/DOWNLOAD_INSTALL_GUIDE.pdf). |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## 🎉 What's new in 2.0.0 |
|
|
| Version 2.0.0 is a ground-up **"zero-config" redesign** — emu now sets itself up |
| for your machine and puts every capability one click away. |
|
|
| - **Zero-config setup** — emu detects your CPU, memory and GPU and automatically |
| picks and downloads a chat model that runs well on your hardware. No manual model |
| hunting; sensible defaults out of the box. |
| - **One-tap, unified workspace** — a cleaner single-window layout with one button |
| per task: attach an **Image**, run **OCR**, **dictate** (🎤), and **speak** replies |
| (🔊). Settings are organized and simplified. |
| - **Dedicated image understanding** — a specialized vision model reads and answers |
| questions about your images (identify objects, read signs and labels, describe |
| scenes), in addition to the general multimodal chat. |
| - **Larger, smarter chat** — support for a new flagship chat model on capable GPUs, |
| plus faster on-GPU generation. |
| - **Better documents** — OCR now shows live progress, handles multi-page PDFs, and |
| every extraction is **saved to a document manager** you can reopen and export. |
| - **Voice you can keep** — spoken (text-to-speech) clips are saved for replay and |
| export; **right-click any text to Speak it**; language-aware voice selection. |
| - **Smoother & more robust** — many stability, performance, and quality fixes across |
| chat, speech, and OCR. |
|
|
| Everything still runs **100% on your device** — no account, no telemetry, no cloud |
| inference. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## 🖥️ Minimum requirements |
|
|
| | Component | Minimum | Recommended | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | Operating system | Windows 10/11 (64-bit) **or** Linux (x86-64, modern distro) | Windows 11 / a current Linux distro | |
| | Processor | 64-bit CPU with **AVX2** (Intel 2013+ / AMD 2015+ — virtually any modern CPU) | Recent multi-core CPU | |
| | Memory | **16 GB RAM** | 32 GB RAM | |
| | Free disk | **8 GB** (app + first model) | 20 GB+ | |
| | GPU *(CUDA editions only)* | **NVIDIA**, Compute Capability **7.5+** (Turing / GTX 16-series, RTX 20-series or newer), 6–8 GB VRAM | Compute Capability 8.6+ (RTX 30-series or newer), 12 GB+ VRAM | |
| | NVIDIA driver *(CUDA editions only)* | Driver supporting **CUDA 13** — Windows release **595.xx or newer** (Linux **R595+**); simplest is the **latest** Game Ready / Studio driver | Latest available | |
| | Internet | Once, to download model bundles on first use | — | |
|
|
| > **CUDA edition — what you need (and don't).** You only need an **NVIDIA driver**; |
| > **no CUDA Toolkit, cuDNN, or developer tools** are required — the GPU runtime is |
| > bundled and emu ships **prebuilt native GPU code** for a wide range of NVIDIA |
| > GPUs (Turing → Blackwell), so nothing is compiled on your machine. Run |
| > `nvidia-smi` and check that the **CUDA Version** shown is **13.x**; if it is |
| > lower, update your driver. If the GPU or driver is unsupported, emu falls back to |
| > the **CPU** automatically. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## 🛠️ Install |
|
|
| **Windows:** double-click the `.exe`. If SmartScreen appears, confirm the publisher |
| reads **CLOUDKITES PTY LTD**, choose **Run**, accept the licence, and finish. |
| Shortcuts are created in the Start menu and on the Desktop. |
|
|
| **Linux:** make the download executable and run it — |
| `chmod +x emu-2.0.0-linux-*.run && ./emu-2.0.0-linux-*.run` — then follow the |
| installer wizard. It adds an application-menu entry; emu is self-contained (Qt and, |
| for the CUDA edition, the NVIDIA runtime are bundled — you only need an NVIDIA |
| driver). Microphone dictation uses your system recorder (PipeWire/PulseAudio/ALSA), |
| present on any desktop Linux. |
|
|
| On first run, open the model picker and let emu download a chat model suited to |
| your hardware. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## ✨ Using emu |
|
|
| - **Multimodal chat** — type in your language; attach an **image** (with a |
| thumbnail **preview** — OCR it or chat about it) or an **audio** clip. |
| - **🎤 Speech-to-text** — dictate prompts on-device (auto-detect or pick a language). |
| - **🔊 Text-to-speech** — read replies aloud; multiple engines, including on-device |
| **Vietnamese voice cloning**. **Right-click any text to Speak it**, and spoken |
| clips are **saved** for replay/export. |
| - **🔊 Replay/save spoken audio** — replay the last spoken (text-to-speech) clip, |
| or export it to a WAV. |
| - **📄 Document OCR** — `/ocr` (or the image preview's OCR button) an **image or |
| PDF**; extracted text and tables drop into the chat. |
| - **Hardware-aware model picker** — emu detects your CPU/RAM/GPU and offers the |
| models that run well on your machine, defaulting to the best fit. |
| - **Persistent chats**, Markdown rendering, and resource-aware loading. **Settings** |
| cover device (CPU/CUDA/Auto), context length, and more. |
| - **100% private & offline** — every model runs on your CPU or NVIDIA GPU; nothing |
| leaves your device. |
|
|
| **English** and **Vietnamese** are first-class across chat, speech, and voice; the |
| chat models natively handle dozens more languages. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## 📚 Documentation |
|
|
| Read these for full details (also on the **Files** tab): |
|
|
| - [**Download & Installation Guide (PDF)**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/DOWNLOAD_INSTALL_GUIDE.pdf) — choosing an edition, downloading, installing, and getting started. |
| - [**User Guide (PDF)**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/USER_GUIDE.pdf) — complete, step-by-step guide to every feature. |
| - [**Product Information (PDF)**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/PRODUCT_INFORMATION.pdf) — full product overview: capabilities, bundled AI models and their licences, system requirements, privacy, and limitations. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## 📜 License |
|
|
| emu is **proprietary software distributed free of charge** © 2026 CloudKites Pty |
| Ltd (CloudKites AI Lab), ABN 91 633 195 874. It is provided in compiled (binary) |
| form for Windows and Linux (x86-64). |
|
|
| - ✅ **Free to use** — personal or commercial, on any number of devices. |
| - ✅ **Free to redistribute** — share the **complete, unmodified** official |
| installer, free of charge, with all notices intact. |
| - ❌ **No selling / no paid bundling**, no modification, no reverse-engineering. |
| - The source code of emu and its Numbat ML toolkit is confidential and is not distributed. |
|
|
| "emu", "Numbat" and "CloudKites" are trademarks of CloudKites Pty Ltd. |
|
|
| **License documents** (all on the **Files** tab): |
|
|
| - [**End-User License Agreement — `LICENSE`**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/LICENSE) (plain text) — the full terms, presented during installation. |
| - [**End-User License Agreement — `LICENSE.pdf`**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/LICENSE.pdf) (formatted PDF) — the same terms. |
| - [**Third-party attributions — `THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md`**](https://huggingface.co/cloudkites/emu/resolve/main/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md) — licences for the bundled AI models and libraries (Gemma, Qwen, gwen-tts, Pocket TTS, VieNeu-TTS, PP-OCRv6, Qt, NVIDIA CUDA/cuDNN), each used under its own terms. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## ⚠️ AI output notice |
|
|
| emu uses generative AI models. Output may be inaccurate, incomplete, or fabricated |
| even when it appears confident, and is **not** a substitute for professional advice |
| — verify important information against trusted sources. |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## 💬 Support & contact |
|
|
| Questions or issues? We're happy to help. |
|
|
| - **Email:** contact@cloudkites.com |
| - **Website:** https://cloudkites.com/contact |
|
|
