A self-hosted swarm of AI agents, with apps on iPhone, Mac and web.

life is a self-hosted team of AI agents built on Claude Code. It will help you meet your goals, whatever they are.

Install with one prompt Clone github.com/mattabate/life-distributable and set up my life agent. Follow its SETUP.md.

Open Claude Code on your Mac and paste this. The agent walks you through setup from there.

The life desktop app's Calendar on the week of November 8: a morning routine every day, piano homework, a build thread to post, lunch with a friend, a demo to record and the weekly team review, with overdue, due, do soon and sessions waiting lists

The life iPhone app: Charlotte, the marketing manager, with an approval card to post this week's build thread on X

Your Mac runs the agents. It connects to your iPhone over a private Tailscale VPN, and you talk to the agents from an iPhone app, a desktop app or a web app. Nothing is on the public internet. Only your devices can reach it, and you can connect as many as you like: a Mac mini, a laptop, a phone.

The agents learn about you and your goals as you work with them. They maintain their own code, and can change the UI or add data sources when asked. Dangerous actions, like sending emails, are safe behind a secure approval step.

Setup takes about 2 hours, mostly waiting on Apple and the Xcode download. You need a Mac that stays on, a Claude subscription (about $20 to $200 a month), and an Apple Developer membership ($99 a year, only for the iPhone and desktop apps).

How it works

Calendar.

The agents keep a calendar of what they need to do for you, and you for them.

Roles.

Each agent is a long-running Claude Code session with a role, like chief of staff or CTO. They pass tasks between one another when some part of their task requires know-how from a different part of the swarm.

Cards, not chat.

By default the chat history isn't displayed. You can only see what the agent needs you to do or wants to tell you in that moment.

All of this is a starting point and subject to change. The agents maintain their own code, so if you don't like how something looks or works, just ask and they can change it from one prompt.

Example app layout

Desktop app

The life desktop app's Sessions list: one row per agent with its open card, and Randy's chat open with a photo backup running — **Sessions.** Agents tell you when they need you.

The life desktop app's Configuration page: Claude Code limits, devices, the team org chart under you with each role's goals, and the data sources for each goal — **Configuration.** Your team, goals, devices, and data.

iPhone app

The life iPhone app Calendar tab on November 8: the passport to renew, overdue, then seven items due today — **Calendar.** Your day at a glance.

The screenshots are the real apps on a demo hub with made-up people and plans.

Your first five minutes

You don't need to be technical.

If you don't have Claude Code yet, install it with Anthropic's guide.
Open Terminal: press Cmd-Space, type Terminal, press Return.
In Terminal, type claude and press Return. Sign in with your Claude account if it asks.
Give Claude the following prompt and press Return:
Clone github.com/mattabate/life-distributable and set up my life agent. Follow its SETUP.md.
Follow the instructions the agent gives you. It will ask what features you want at the start.

What it costs

Every cost below goes to an outside service. Nothing goes to me.

What	Necessary?	Cost	Needed for
Claude Pro or Max	Required	$20, $100 or $200 a month	Everything. Max is better for an always-on agent
A Mac on macOS 15 or later	Required	the one you own	The hub
Tailscale	Required	free	Reaching your hub privately from your phone and laptops
Apple Developer Program	Optional	$99 a year	Only the iPhone app and the desktop app. Web only? Skip it
Backblaze B2	Recommended	cents a month	Nightly encrypted backup

Setup, in order

The agent follows SETUP.md. Here is the timeline.

Pick your apps, see the costs2 min. iPhone, desktop, web, or all three. Later changes are built for the ones you picked.
Start the slow things10 min, then waiting. Apple developer enrollment and the Xcode download start first. Apple usually answers within hours.
Prepare the Mac10 min. Free tools, never sleep, disk encryption on.
Your private copy on GitHub5 min. Your copy, your account, private.
Tailscale10 min. A private network only your devices can join.
The hub is up10 min. First milestone: the web console works.
Backups15 min. Nightly, encrypted, to storage you own, tested with a real restore.
Apple team and Xcode10 min. Once Apple says yes.
The apps20 min. The desktop app opens, the iPhone app installs and buzzes.
Your first goals15 min. The agent interviews you.
Weekly updates and wrap-up5 min.

How security works

Your data lives on your Mac. The hub listens only on your private Tailscale network, so nothing about it is public.

Nothing public. No open ports, no public URL. Your phone reaches the hub through Tailscale.
Outbound, only four places: Anthropic (your Claude sessions), Apple (push notifications), your own backup bucket, and an optional weekly heartbeat to the project's PostHog analytics.
The heartbeat is off unless you say yes. The agent asks once at setup, and the answer defaults to no. Never text, titles, names or amounts.
Backups are yours. Encrypted on your Mac before upload, so the storage only ever sees noise. The nightly key can't delete anything.
The gate. Anything that spends money, deletes, contacts a person, shares data or pushes code needs your approval plus a decider code that only you hold.

Updates and addenda

The copy is yours. Setup makes a private copy in your GitHub account. Change anything.
New every week. The developer runs this same app daily, and each week its fixes and new pieces are ported here.
Your agent checks weekly. It reads ADDENDA.md every Monday and shows each new entry as a card on your phone.
Nothing lands without you. Say yes and a new session applies that one update, fitted to your copy, tests it, and tells you what changed. Optional add-ons (like voice) arrive the same way, off until you opt in.

⭐ Star it to get developer addenda

New features and fixes land in ADDENDA.md every week, and your agent brings each one to you.

★ Star on GitHub Open an issue Send a pull request

FAQ

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The agent runs every command. You click, copy and paste where it tells you.

Is my data sent anywhere?

Your Claude sessions go to Anthropic, like any Claude Code session. Push notifications go through Apple. Backups go to your own Backblaze bucket, encrypted first. Nothing else, unless you opt in to the counts-only heartbeat (to PostHog).

Can I skip the iPhone app?

Yes. Pick web only and skip the Apple Developer membership. The console works in any browser on your Tailscale network, phone included.

Does it run on Windows or Linux?

The hub needs a Mac. Once it runs, the web console works from any device on your Tailscale network.

Can the agent spend my money or email people on its own?

No. Those actions are gated. It proposes, you approve with your decider code.

Is this an Anthropic product?

No. It's an independent open source project built on Claude Code.

Who made this

Matt Abate

Questions and ideas: open an issue. Want it set up for you or your team? Get in touch.

Found a security hole? Report it privately, not in an issue.