Mata

A modern desktop chat application built with Electron and Next.js, designed to work with local AI models through Ollama. Mata provides a sleek, native-feeling interface for interacting with various AI models while keeping all data and processing local.

Preview (clone repo and run locally for full features): Mata

Features

• 🖥️ Native Desktop App – Custom title bar, window controls, and system integration
• 🎨 Modern UI – Tailwind CSS & shadcn/ui with system-aware dark/light mode
• 💬 Enhanced Chat Interface – Markdown, LaTeX support, syntax highlighting, and role-based styling
• 🤖 Multiple AI Models – Seamless model switching & management via Ollama
• 📁 File Upload Support – Drag-and-drop for text and images with validation & preview
• ⚡ Optimized Performance – Lazy loading, memory-efficient storage, and background task handling
• 💾 Local Chat History – Secure storage with file-based persistence (JSON/SQLite)
• ⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts – Configurable multi-key combinations for productivity
• 🔄 Popout Window Mode – Resizable, draggable chat window for multitasking
• 🔒 Privacy-Focused – All processing stays on your machine—no cloud dependencies
• 📊 Hardware Monitoring – Real-time CPU, GPU, and memory tracking for optimal resource usage

Demo Video

MataDemo.mp4

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Ollama installed and running locally
• Windows, macOS, or Linux operating system

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/jacobkobr/mata.git
   cd mata

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Start the development server:

   npm run electron-dev

4. Build the desktop application:

   npm run electron-build

Technologies Used

Core Framework

• Next.js 14 - App Router for efficient page routing and server components
• Electron - Enables native desktop capabilities with custom window management and IPC communication

State Management & Data

• Zustand - Lightweight state management with persistent storage capabilities, used for app settings and model configurations
• SQLite (better-sqlite3) - Embedded database for efficient local chat history storage with full text search support

UI/UX

• Radix UI - Headless UI components providing accessible primitives for complex interactions
• Tailwind CSS - Utility-first CSS framework with custom theming and dark mode support
• shadcn/ui - Component system built on Radix UI with consistent styling and behavior

AI Integration

• Ollama Integration - Custom service layer for managing local AI models with:
  • Real-time model installation tracking
  • Streaming responses
  • Multi-model support
  • Vision model capabilities

IPC Communication

• Custom IPC Bridge - Secure communication channel between Electron main and renderer processes:
  • Type-safe message passing
  • Window state management
  • File system access

Development

• Run in development mode: npm run electron-dev
• Build desktop app: npm run electron-build
• Build for specific platform:
  • Windows: npm run electron-build -- --win
  • macOS: npm run electron-build -- --mac
  • Linux: npm run electron-build -- --linux

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details