What leaves the browser

What stays in the browser, and what each feature sends and to whom - with the rows Direct Connection takes off the server path, and the inspector to verify it all.

Browse documentation

What stays in the browser, in two stores:

Store	What it holds
Local storage	API keys and models, all settings and configuration
IndexedDB	chats, personas and ramble entities, larger local files

Note

Direct Connection works only with your API key stored in the browser, and with an AI service that permits direct browser calls (CORS). Where it cannot be used, requests route through the Big-AGI fast edge servers instead - everything still works, within the standard upload size and time limits.

One row per feature, the fully local ones grouped at the bottom:

Feature	Route
Chat message - text, history, system prompt *	browser -> Big-AGI edge -> AI service
Attachments - the bytes travel inside the message *	as the chat message: inlined into the request body, no separate upload endpoint
Model list refresh *	browser -> Big-AGI edge -> AI service
Voice input, recorder engine	browser -> the transcription vendor, always: audio files never traverse our server
Voice output, hosted voices	text -> Big-AGI edge -> the voice vendor
Attach a link, page browsing	URL -> Big-AGI server -> the page
Web search	query -> Big-AGI edge -> the search API
Image generation	prompt and any input images -> Big-AGI edge -> the image vendor
Publish or share a conversation	uploaded when you ask for a link - an explicit act
Voice input, browser engine	local to the browser - its own speech service (in Chrome, Google's), never Big-AGI
Voice output, browser voice	local only - your browser's own speech synthesis, no network to us
Attachment conversion - PDF text, PDF to images, OCR, DOCX and HTML to Markdown	local only - the PDF and OCR engines run in your browser
Chat search	local only - keyword matching over your local text, no embeddings, no server query
Token count and cost estimate	local only - the tokenizer runs in your browser

* skipped with Direct Connection on, per service: the Big-AGI edge drops out and your browser calls the AI service itself.

Upload size and time limits on the server path live on Context and limits.

Three-lane sequence diagram. Your Control holds the browser with your data and keys. Transit Only is the Big-AGI edge. AI Provider is the model service. Request plus key goes from browser to edge, the edge forwards it to the AI Services box, and a dashed response arrow returns through both. — The default route, in three lanes: Your Control, Transit Only, AI Provider.

Read the literal request

The AI Inspector captures the exact JSON body that left your browser for a turn - the assembled system prompt, the history as sent, the model and its parameters - with a transport chip naming the route it took: Direct Connection or Edge Server.

Pro

Chats, personas and rambles stay on this device unless you subscribe to Pro: cloud backup and multi-device sync (1 GB). On Open there is no sync. Disabling sync never deletes local data.

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