Confab is a desktop app that turns the cards on your board into working code, on your own machine. Point a workspace at a repo, dispatch a card, and your own Claude builds it in a branch and opens a pull request for review.
// bring your own Claude · runs on your machine
Retry-After header in rateLimitMiddleware.ts, self-reviewed it, and opened a pull request. View PR →Not another coding agent. A collaboration tool that understands your codebase, for everyone on the team, not just developers.
Your PM asks "how does our auth system work?" in Slack. Your AI answers with full codebase context, the same AI your developers use to write code. No terminal. No risk.
Devs get code changes. PMs get specs and answers. Everyone works in the same channels, with the same project context.
refreshToken() function in auth/middleware.ts checks expiry 5 min before TTL and rotates silently...Can't decide between Claude's approach and Codex's? Don't. Use /compare to ask multiple AIs the same question and see their responses side by side.
Architecture decisions, code review, confidence estimation. When it matters, get more than one perspective.
The AI never writes to main. Code changes, specs, research docs: everything goes to a branch with a PR. Your team reviews before anything lands.
For doc-heavy projects, turn on auto-merge and skip the ceremony. Either way, there's an audit trail.
Confab lives in Slack, Discord, Telegram, and the web. Tools that already work on your phone, your laptop, and your tablet. Open the app you already have, message your AI, and get a codebase-aware answer. No extra app to install.
Your AI is wherever your chat app is. Park the car, walk in, open your laptop. The conversation is already there.
Not another chat bot. A desktop app that ships the cards on your board, on your own machine, one reviewable pull request at a time.
Mark a card ready and Confab picks it up, builds it in an isolated branch, and hands you a pull request. Your backlog becomes a build queue.
A per-workspace bridge runs your own Claude locally against a repo folder. Your code and your prompts never leave your computer.
Use your existing Claude subscription or API key. No markup, no proxy, no reselling your tokens. Compliant with provider terms by design.
Confab never writes to main. Each card lands on a branch, gets self-reviewed against its acceptance criteria, and waits for your approval.
Privacy-first Workspaces: each project gets its own window, bound to one folder, with its own board and chat. Nothing bleeds between them.
The board renders from a backend-agnostic provider contract. Foothold Foundry today; Jira, Linear, and Shortcut are on the way.
Real scenarios, real collaboration. Not one person in a terminal. A team working together.
PM asks a question in Slack, gets a plain-English summary with a link to a doc the AI committed to the repo. No terminal. No Jira export. 30 seconds.
/compare asks three AIs the same question. See where they agree (trust it) and where they diverge (dig deeper). The feature no AI provider will build.
Describe an idea in chat. The AI creates a repo, writes a starter doc, and invites you to collaborate. You never touch git. Create a channel, invite your team, start building.
QA asks about coverage, gets a specific answer, then asks the AI to fill the gaps. No need to set up the project locally or read the test framework docs.
Designer asks about the component library in Slack. Gets a direct answer with file references. No need to clone the repo or ask an engineer to pause their work.
Legal asks for a license risk analysis. The AI scans direct and transitive dependencies, flags copyleft licenses (LGPL, AGPL, GPL), and commits an audit doc with specific packages and remediation options.
Most AI tools are single-user. Confab is built for teams, from the architecture up.
| Category | Confab | Viktor | Hosted OpenClaw | OpenClaw (DIY) | Kilo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team collaboration | ✓ | Individual DMs only, no shared threads | ✗ | ✗ | Slack threads only |
| Permissions / RBAC | ✓ | Coming soon. Everyone shares everything. | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Non-dev access | ✓ | ✓ | Agent designed for technical users | Terminal setup + config required | ✓ |
| Channels | 5+ channels | Slack only | 23+ channels | 23+ channels | Slack only |
| Multi-model /compare | Coming soon | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI writes to main? | Never. Branch + PR. | Yes, unless configured | Yes, unless configured | Yes, unless configured | ✓ |
| Security | ✓ | Reverse-engineered in 2 days | 135K instances exposed; 12% malicious skills | You manage it | ✓ |
| Budget controls | Coming soon | No caps. $2,400 overnight loops reported. | ✗ | You manage it | ✗ |
| Bring your own AI | ✓ | Credits. Viktor manages providers. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cost transparency | Standard API ratesYou connect your own API keys. You pay your provider directly at standard rates. Confab never marks up your AI costs, and built-in budget caps prevent surprises. | Opaque credits on top of plan | API rates apply | You manage it | Standard BYOK rates |
| 5-person team | $49/mo | $300–400+/mo | $95–395/mo | Free + infra | $75/mo |
Some AI agent tools charge opaque credits on top of their monthly plan. Real-world reports show $200-400/month in sustained use, even when the headline price says $50. Confab charges a flat team price. No credits, no surprises.
Some hosted alternatives charge per running instance. Five team members means five containers. Confab charges per team, not per seat-times-instance.
Providers are changing how they price and enforce third-party tool access. Some have suspended accounts without warning. Confab uses standard BYOK API keys, the most widely accepted integration pattern in the industry.
Agents without spending caps can loop overnight on real money. Confab ships with per-user spend caps and warnings before you hit your limit.
Confab keeps it simple. Connect your API keys from Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, or Gemini. You pay your provider directly at standard rates. We charge a flat team price with budget controls built in. No markup, no credits, no surprises.
Solo? $9.99/mo. Team of 5? $49/mo.
The same team on typical per-seat pricing: $75–400/mo
Pay annually and save 20%. You bring the AI. We don't mark up your provider costs.
No servers. No terminal. No IT ticket.
Download Confab for Mac or Windows and open it. Everything runs locally; there is nothing to deploy.
Point a workspace at a repo folder on your machine and connect your board. Your own Claude runs inside it, against your code.
Drop a card into Queued. Confab builds it on a branch, self-reviews it against the acceptance criteria, and opens a pull request for you.
Confab runs on your own machine and touches your code. We take that seriously. Every claim here is backed by an architectural decision, not a marketing checkbox.
Start free. Bring your own AI. We don't mark up your provider costs.
See what Confab can do
Solo power user
5 users included
20 users included
Confab turns the cards on your board into reviewed pull requests, built on your own machine with your own Claude. You stay in control: every change is a branch, every branch is a pull request, and nothing lands until you say so. That's Confab.
// bring your own Claude · runs locally · your code stays yours