# APISelf

> APISelf is a marketplace of **local-first**, **buy-once** alternatives to popular AI and SaaS tools. Customers purchase a "Box" (a single-binary microapp), run it on their own hardware, and own it forever - no subscriptions, no vendor lock-in, no tracking. Each Box ships with offline-tolerant licensing (RS256 JWT verified locally), a local orchestrator called the Manager (runs at `localhost:7474`), and embedded React UI. Every box is **MCP-native** — its REST endpoints automatically become tools that Claude Desktop, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible AI client can call.

APISelf is operated by magnetic s.r.o. (Slovakia), a registered VAT payer and the seller / merchant of record; card payments are processed by Stripe. magnetic s.r.o. charges VAT and issues invoices. Boxes are distributed as ZIP files or Nix flakes; the Manager installs, updates, starts, and proxies traffic to them. All revenue comes from one-time box purchases - there is no recurring billing.

## Key product properties

- **Buy once, own forever** - every paid box is a perpetual license (no expiry, no kill switch).
- **Local-first** - software runs entirely on the customer's machine; APISelf cloud is touched only for marketplace, license signing, and a pseudonymous 6h heartbeat for security advisories (described in the GDPR notice).
- **MCP-native** - every box's REST endpoints automatically become MCP tools via the Manager; Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other MCP clients call them without glue code.
- **BYOK for cloud services** - boxes that integrate with cloud APIs (LLM, TTS, transcription, notifications) use the customer's own API keys; APISelf never proxies their calls.
- **No tracking** - no analytics cookies, no ad networks, no usage profiling. Only a pseudonymous machine-ID heartbeat for license + security check-ins.
- **Cross-platform** - Windows, macOS, Linux (x64 + ARM64) at launch.
- **Cross-box composition** - boxes can call each other via the Manager's proxy (e.g. Filedrop sends a download notification through Notify; Recorder pushes recordings to Storage; Transcribe summarises via LLM).
- **Tiered free / basic / pro** - every box has a Free tier that keeps working after a paid Trial expires (graceful degradation, never goes dark).
- **Quality gating** - boxes ship on alpha -> beta -> rc -> stable tracks; **only `rc` and `stable` boxes accept payments**. Alpha and beta are free for community testing.

## Boxes (18 available)

- [AI Chat](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-ai-chat) _(rc)_ - Self-hosted AI chat. Chat with a local llama.cpp model or with cloud models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq…) via the AI Gateway box. Build a private knowledge base (RAG) over your documents - embeddings run on-device. OpenAI-compatible Chat & Embeddings API.
- [AI Gateway](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-ai-gateway) _(alpha)_ - Central hub for your AI models and keys: browse local + cloud models, store BYOK keys once per provider, route each request to your GPU or the cloud.
- [Authentication](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-auth) _(beta)_ - Self-hosted identity & SSO for your APISelf boxes. Email + password login, magic link invitations, per-box RBAC. Pay once, own forever - no MAU fees, no vendor lock-in.
- [Doc Tools](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-doc-tools) _(beta)_ - Local-first document toolkit: convert Markdown, HTML and text, export them to a styled PDF, render Markdown with themes (math and diagrams), and run PDF operations - merge, split, page editing, rotate, page numbers and metadata. Buy once, runs on your machine, no uploads.
- [File Drop](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-filedrop) _(rc)_ - Self-hosted WeTransfer alternative. Generate a link to a file on your disk - recipient downloads directly via P2P, no cloud upload. No monthly fees.
- [Forms](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-forms) _(alpha)_ - Self-hosted form builder. Drag-and-drop forms, public share URLs, response storage with CSV/JSON export, webhooks. Buy once, own forever - no per-response fees, no data lock-in.
- [Image Gen](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-image-gen) _(beta)_ - Local AI image generation from a prompt. Run open models on your own GPU (unlimited) or bring your own cloud key. Alpha: placeholder engine - real models land next.
- [Image Tools](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-image-tools) _(alpha)_ - Local image toolkit: convert, resize, compress, optimize + favicon sets. Buy-once alternative to Squoosh / TinyPNG / iLoveIMG.
- [Local S3 Bridge](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-s3-bridge) _(alpha)_ - S3-compatible local storage. Works with rclone, boto3, aws-cli, and other S3 clients without an internet connection.
- [Notify](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-notify) _(rc)_ - Multi-channel notification gateway. Sends email, Slack, Discord, Telegram, MS Teams and webhook notifications through providers you already own. Credentials stay locally encrypted; you pay providers directly, never per-message fees to us.
- [Recorder](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-recorder) _(rc)_ - Self-hosted recorder - capture screen + audio, or audio-only voice notes / meetings. Pair with the Transcribe box to turn recordings into text. No cloud, no subscriptions.
- [Reel Forge](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-reel-forge) _(alpha)_ - The video studio that turns an idea into a finished short - script, keyframes, clips, voiceover, captions, edit. It orchestrates the whole ecosystem. Alpha: project skeleton; motor wiring lands next.
- [Scan Codes](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-scancodes) _(rc)_ - Professional generator of 50+ types of QR codes and barcodes (EAN, GS1, Data Matrix, PDF417, Aztec) with dynamic redirects and Smart Rules.
- [Storage](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-storage) _(rc)_ - Universal storage gateway. One box, many backends - local FS, SFTP, FTP/FTPS, S3 + S3-compat, Google Cloud, Azure, SMB, WebDAV, Dropbox, OneDrive, GitHub. Other boxes save through it; you own all credentials.
- [Text to Speech](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-tts) _(alpha)_ - Local text-to-speech engine + bring-your-own-key cloud routing. ElevenLabs-grade quality without per-character fees - offline via Piper / Kokoro / XTTS-v2, or with your own ElevenLabs / OpenAI API key.
- [Transcribe](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-transcribe) _(beta)_ - Self-hosted Whisper transcription. Upload audio, get a searchable transcript with timestamps. Audio never leaves your machine.
- [Video Gen](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-video-gen) _(alpha)_ - AI video generation via your own cloud key (BYOK: Kling, Luma, Runway…). Hero feature: first + last keyframe → AI fills the transition. Alpha: provider adapters land next.
- [Video Tools](https://apiself.com/boxes/apiself-box-video-tools) _(alpha)_ - Local video toolkit: convert, resize, trim, extract audio and probe - the shared ffmpeg motor for the whole ecosystem. Buy-once alternative to CloudConvert / Kapwing.

## How a purchase works

1. User opens https://apiself.com/boxes/{box-id} and clicks a tier (Free / Basic / Pro per box).
2. Checkout runs on Stripe (card processing). magnetic s.r.o. is the seller of record - it charges VAT and issues the invoice.
3. APISelf cloud receives the webhook, signs an RS256 JWT (license token bound to email + Hardware ID), and emails the user a one-click `apiself://` URL.
4. The user's local Manager catches the URL, verifies the JWT against an embedded public key, downloads the box ZIP, and starts it. See "Installing the Manager" below.
5. The box ships with a Free tier that keeps working even if the paid Trial expires - no service interruption, license file is preserved for re-purchase.

## Installing the Manager

The Manager is the local orchestrator; every box needs it. It installs onto the user's own machine - nothing runs in APISelf cloud. An AI agent with shell access can run these directly, but should ask the user first: this installs software and registers a background service.

- Linux: `curl -fsSL https://apiself.com/install/en/setup.sh | bash`
- macOS: `curl -fsSL https://apiself.com/install/en/setup-macos.sh | bash`
- Windows (PowerShell): `irm https://apiself.com/install/en/install-windows.ps1 | iex`

Swap `en` for `sk`, `de`, `fr` or `es` to get the script with localised prompts. Uninstall scripts sit at the same paths (`uninstall.sh`, `uninstall-windows.ps1`).

Once installed the Manager listens on `http://localhost:7474` and exposes every installed box as MCP tools at `http://localhost:7474/api/mcp`. Point Claude Desktop, Claude Code or Cursor at that endpoint and the boxes become callable tools; https://apiself.com/install carries the copy-paste client config.

## MCP server for this catalogue

Before there is a Manager there is no local MCP server, so this catalogue exposes one of its own at `https://apiself.com/mcp`:

- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http apiself https://apiself.com/mcp`
- Anything else: point it at `https://apiself.com/mcp` as a streamable-HTTP MCP server.

Tools: `list_boxes`, `get_box`, `search_boxes` and `get_install_command`. It is read-only and runs on apiself.com, so it cannot install anything or reach a user's computer - it hands over the command, and an agent with a shell on that machine runs it after asking. Buying is not exposed either: a licence binds to an email and a hardware id and is paid by card, so a person finishes that on the box's page.

## What APISelf is *not*

- Not a SaaS - there are no servers running customer workloads in APISelf cloud.
- Not a subscription - every paid box is a one-time charge.
- Not freemium with a kill switch - the Free tier of every box is a real product, not a teaser.
- Not Docker-only - boxes are native single-binary apps with embedded React UIs.
- Not a hosted AI agent platform - the Manager exposes installed boxes via MCP so the customer's own AI client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) drives them locally.

## Useful URLs

- Landing: https://apiself.com/
- Box catalog: https://apiself.com/boxes
- Pricing rules: https://apiself.com/pricing
- Install instructions: https://apiself.com/install
- For teams / B2B: https://apiself.com/for-teams
- Docs: https://apiself.com/docs
- License terms: https://apiself.com/license
- Refund policy: https://apiself.com/refunds
- GDPR: https://apiself.com/gdpr
- Sitemap: https://apiself.com/sitemap.xml