Dial zero.
Someone
picks up.
A personal assistant that lives on your Mac, not in someone else's product. Text it what you need. It makes the call, sends the text, books the table, and gets back to you.
I built my own. This is the version anyone can run.
Free and open source. Runs on Claude or OpenAI. No coding needed: unzip it, open the dialzero-main folder in Claude Code or Codex, and type "set me up".
How I built mine, and how to build yours.
What a day looks like.
Your phone rings. It's your assistant.
It says good morning, asks what's first on your plate, and brings up the first thing on your calendar. It won't hang up until you've answered out loud. An alarm you can swipe away. This you have to talk to.
One short text: the few things that matter today, numbered. Reply "done 2" and it's off the list.
You text "call the dentist and move my cleaning to next week." It dials, gets through the phone menu, talks to the front desk, and texts you back.
Running late. Sam gets a text from you. You didn't open anything.
One more short text: what moved today, what's waiting on you, and one thing you might be forgetting.
It writes down what it learned today: who you talked to, what you promised, what changed. Tomorrow it knows a little more.
It remembers so you don't have to.
Tell it once that your sister's birthday is in May, that you owe your landlord a call, that you don't take meetings before 10. It keeps those as small notes and brings them up when they matter.
Ask "what did I tell the contractor last week?" and it looks through your messages, your email and its notes. It checks before it says it doesn't know.
The more you use it, the less you have to explain.
It makes the calls you keep putting off.
- It handles phone menus: it listens, then presses the right keys.
- It leaves a voicemail if nobody answers, and knows when a business calls back about it.
- If they ask, it says it's an AI. It's warm and brief, and it offers a callback if they'd rather talk to you.
- If it books something, the booking goes on your calendar.
- It never gives out card numbers, passwords or PINs, and never agrees to a charge. If they ask for one, it comes back to you.
You can call it too. Ring its number and ask anything out loud. Or skip the call: say "Hey Siri, ask Milo" (or whatever you name yours) and it answers from your iPhone.
Add it to a group text.
Put it in a group text with your partner and it keeps a shared calendar and a grocery list. It only works with the people you add, and it checks who's in the chat before it says anything.
When you ask, it does it. When it's its idea, it asks first.
Say "text Sam" and Sam gets a text. No "are you sure?" You already said so. If it thinks of something itself, like offering to call the pharmacy after you mention you're almost out, or to cancel a free trial before it renews (if you let it watch your email), it sends you two lines and waits for your "go".
↩ go #action:4 · cancel
Anything that spends money waits for you. There are daily and weekly spending caps, and one switch that turns every action off.
Two texts a day, not twenty.
Most assistants that "reach out" end up as one more thing buzzing your phone. This one checks in twice a day. Between those, it only interrupts for something that can't wait, like a reply you asked it to watch for. Everything else waits for the next check-in.
It runs on your Mac. You own what it knows.
Your Mac, not a server.
It runs on a Mac you leave on. What it learns about you stays in one file on that Mac. Keep the folder: that's where it lives.
Your model.
Pick Claude or OpenAI. Your requests go to them to be understood. Calls go through Twilio, and calendar and email through Google, only if you turn those on.
Your rules.
Every feature is optional, and you choose what it does.
Your code.
It's open source. Read it, change it, take the parts you want.
Setup is a conversation.
Download the ZIP, unzip it, open the dialzero-main folder in Claude Code or Codex, and type "set me up".
Plan on about an hour. You can stop and pick up where you left off. Want to try it first? "npm run chat" talks to it in the terminal without texting anyone.
You'll need
- A Mac that stays on.
- An API key from Anthropic or OpenAI (you pay for what you use, and you can set a cap).
- Optionally, a Google account for calendar and email, and a Twilio number for phone calls (calls use OpenAI's voice model, so they need an OpenAI key).
- Checks your Mac and installs what's missing (it asks first)
- Has you pick Claude or OpenAI and add your key
- Interviews you so the assistant knows who you are, who's in your life, and what you want off your plate
- Walks you through each permission, one click at a time
- Texts you for the first time
What it won't do.
- It won't pay your bills.
- It won't force a cancellation. It asks, and if a company insists on you, it hands it back.
- It won't check out for you. It fills the cart and stops.
- It won't talk to other companies' AI agents.
- It doesn't run without a Mac that stays on.
- It's early, and it has rough edges. It works well for the person who built it, and now it's yours to try.
Not ready to set it up? Start with the list.
The interview starts with the same three questions:
- Who's in your life, and what do you need to remember about them?
- What do you keep forgetting?
- What would you hand off tomorrow if you could?
Write yours down tonight. It's the part no one can build for you.
Why I built it
I'm Manav. I wanted an assistant that knew my life, did the annoying stuff, and didn't live on someone else's server. None of the big ones did that, so I built my own. I use it every day: it runs my family's calendar, I ask it things out loud from my phone, and it wakes me up every morning. Dial Zero is the version anyone can run.