A personal document AI ran daily on a Mac mini for a year
A personal system has run locally on a and been used every day for a year. It is written entirely in Python and uses for document search, plus Ollama and to run the .
PDF and Word files placed in a corpus folder become material for more precise answers. Notes can also be written and stored as PDFs, allowing them to be searched alongside the other documents.
A setup based on Claude Code and Obsidian was considered but did not seem better than the existing system for and privacy. Replacing Claude Code with a local Ollama model or Hermes was another option, although the expected answer quality raised doubts.
Key points
- The personal document assistant ran on a and was used daily for one year.
- PDF and Word files in a corpus folder provide source material for answers.
- Personal notes are saved as PDFs and searched with the other documents.
- The system uses Python, , Ollama, and .
- Claude Code and Obsidian did not appear to improve or privacy.