The questions people ask us.

What does Aureole do that an AI provider doesn’t?

A provider gives you its model, in its app, usually for a subscription. Aureole brings together the providers you decide to work with, with no subscription: you pay each one as you go, and you set what you spend with it. Above all, its shortcut knows your context — the app you’re in, what you’ve selected, the open file — and that changes everything. Around it: over 400 tools built into your Mac, which drive your apps and query reference sources; ready-made widgets, which lay the answer out; agents, which work on the signal you set; and a studio, to create and rework your images, videos, music and documents.

Who is behind Aureole?

A team that isn’t only developers: creatives and decision-makers, like you. We don’t just listen to your needs, we understand them. Want to connect Aureole to your internal tools or an API, or adapt it to a particular use? We build it with you, made to measure. Write to us.

What do I need to get started?

A Mac running macOS 15 or later, and an account with at least one AI provider — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral… On each provider’s site, you create an API key: a kind of password that lets an app like Aureole use its models. One key is enough to start; you add one for each provider you want to work with. You paste them into Aureole, and each request is billed to the account of the provider that answers it, at its rate. Five minutes per key, and the key guide walks you through it. Or a local model with Ollama or LM Studio: no key, no account.

Where does my data go?

On your Mac: conversations, memory, library, keys. When you query an online model, only what the request needs leaves — your message and what you selected or attached — straight to the provider you chose. No Aureole server in between. Audio transcription happens on your Mac, unless you choose an online service.

Are my API keys safe?

They’re stored in the macOS keychain, like your passwords, and only leave it to call the provider, directly. We never see them: there is no Aureole server.

Does it work offline?

Yes, with a local model (Ollama, LM Studio): chat, actions and transcription work without a connection. Online models and sources, of course, need the internet.

Is my data used to train the models?

Not by Aureole: none of your data passes through us. With the provider, it depends on them and on your plan: most don’t train their models on requests made with an API key, but some free tiers do. Their terms are what count. With a local model, the question doesn’t arise.

What does the AI cost, on top of the license?

For text, very little: depending on the model, from less than a tenth of a cent to a few cents per answer. Providers bill by the token, a fragment of a word, and each request counts a few thousand: your text, Aureole’s instructions, the tools it needs. Fast models (DeepSeek, Claude Haiku, Mistral Small…) sit at the bottom of the range, the most powerful at the top. An image costs from a few cents to a few dozen cents, a few seconds of video up to several euros. A model installed on your Mac costs nothing.

And you set the budget. Most providers sell prepaid credit, in their own currency, often dollars: without automatic top-up, you never spend more than that credit, and a few euros already buy thousands of answers with a fast model. Aureole keeps track of every answer.

Do I need a subscription?

No. The license is paid once and never expires: €69 for one Mac, €119 for 2 Macs with commercial use. It includes one year of updates (two years with Pro), which you can extend. And fourteen days to try it, no sign-up, no card.

Can I use Aureole for my work and my clients?

Yes, with the Pro or Team license: the Personal license is for personal use. What you can do with generated content depends on each provider’s terms.

Does Aureole speak my language?

Yes, in eleven languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Hindi. Your requests and your actions work in every language your model understands.

Which apps can Aureole drive?

Twenty-seven, natively. From Apple: Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Contacts, Messages, Notes, Photos, Music, Maps, Safari, Finder, Shortcuts, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and the system itself (open apps, the clipboard). Elsewhere: Word, Excel and PowerPoint; the Orion, Chrome, Brave, Edge and Arc browsers; Bear, Obsidian and DEVONthink. For all the others, Aureole reads the screen and acts in the interface, the way you would. And you can add more: an MCP server is a standard connector that plugs a new tool into your AI. Always with the permissions you grant.

Do I need to set up my browser for Aureole to read a page?

Yes, once. First, macOS asks you to let Aureole control the browser. Then, to read the text of a page, Safari, Chrome, Brave and Edge must accept JavaScript sent by Apple Events: a developer option, “Allow JavaScript from Apple Events,” turned off by default. While it’s off, Aureole sees your tabs and opens new ones, but can’t read the pages, and tells you so. Arc doesn’t allow it: Aureole sees its tabs, and can read the page with screen control.

Can I switch models along the way?

Yes, at any time, even in the middle of a conversation: start with OpenAI, carry on with Claude. You compare, you keep the best.