What it does
Core capabilities at a glance
- Claude
- Deepseek
- Gemma
- Knowledge Base
- Knowledge Management
- Local
- Local LLM
- Ollama
Deep dive
The full breakdown - performance, comparisons, and setup
surf
surf is a RAG toolkit - Personal AI Notebooks. Organize files & webpages and generate notes from them. Open source, local & open data, open model choice (incl. local).
Overview
Deta Surf is an AI notebook that brings all your files and the web directly into your stream of thought.
It’s meant for simultaneous research and thinking that minimizes the grunt work: manually searching, opening windows & tabs, scrolling, copying and pasting into a document editor.
Surf is primarily built in Svelte, TypeScript and Rust, runs on MacOS, Windows & Linux, stores data locally in open formats, and is open source.
Most applications are focused on a single task, or a single media type: notes, websites, or PDFs. Real thinking requires juggling media across sources to make connections and synthesize ideas. We want to help people think better, across all their media.
Surf is built to be personal and open, in service of the user. This means local first data, open data formats, open source, and openness with respect to AI models. Read more.
For building from source and local development, see CONTRIBUTING.md.
Store almost any media in a private library on your computer, in an open and transparent format.
- Support for local files, sites & links from the web (YouTube, Tweets & more), or create media directly in Surf. - Organize this library into Notebooks. - Open and use much of your library offline. - Use your library to power Surf’s AI features.
surf is open-source, written primarily in TypeScript, with 3,438 GitHub stars under the Apache 2.0 license. The latest release is 1.4.7-beta.0 (2026-04-29).
Key capabilities
From the project's documentation:
- YouTube Notes: visit a YouTube video and ask a question
- PDF Notes: open a PDF and ask a question
- Create an applet: use the "app generation" tool and ask for an app
- Notes that search the web: use the "web search" tool and ask a question with "search" in it
- Support for local files, sites & links from the web (YouTube, Tweets & more), or create media directly in Surf.
- Organize this library into Notebooks.
How it fits a local-AI stack
surf runs on your own hardware, so pair it with a model and a GPU sized to your needs. Use the VRAM calculator to pick a model that fits your card, and see what you can run for hardware guidance. Related RAG toolkits in the directory:
Sources
- Source code & docs: deta/surf
- Official website: https://deta.surf
Stats from GitHub, 2026-06-08.
Frequently asked
Quick answers to common questions
What is surf?
surf is a rag tool for local AI workloads. Personal AI Notebooks. Organize files & webpages and generate notes from them. Open source, local & open data, open model choice (incl. local).
Is surf free and open source?
Yes, surf has 3,438 GitHub stars and is licensed under Apache 2.0. You can self-host it for free on macos, linux, windows, web.
What platforms does surf support?
surf runs on macos, linux, windows, web.
What hardware do I need for surf?
The hardware requirements depend on which models you run. Check our hardware directory for compatible GPUs and systems. surf has 3,438 GitHub stars and an active community.
Does surf support GPU acceleration?
surf supports GPU acceleration via CUDA, Metal, or Vulkan depending on your platform. For the best performance, pair it with an NVIDIA RTX 4090 or 5090.
What are the best alternatives to surf?
Popular alternatives include other rag tools in our directory. Browse our full collection at /tool for comparisons, community reviews, and benchmark data to find the right fit for your workflow.
How much does surf cost?
surf is free-open-source. It is completely free and open source to self-host.
Pairs well with
Complementary tools, models, and hardware
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