Skip to main content

Getting Started

Getting Started

Everything you need to get QUI up and running on your machine.

How QUI Works

QUI has two parts: Mothership (the cloud hub) and QUI Core (your local machine). Understanding how they fit together takes about two minutes — and makes everything else click.

         ┌──────────────────────────┐
         │     QUI Mothership       │
         │       (qui.is)           │
         │                          │
         │  Authentication          │
         │  Billing                 │
         │  LLM Proxy Routing       │
         │  Federation Registry     │
         │                          │
         │  ✗ No conversation data  │
         │  ✗ No character data     │
         │  ✗ No file access        │
         └────────────┬─────────────┘
                      │
          ┌───────────┴───────────┐
          ▼                       ▼
   ┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐
   │  QUI Core    │      │  QUI Core    │
   │  (Device A)  │      │  (Device B)  │
   │              │      │              │
   │  Characters  │      │  Characters  │
   │  Memory      │ P2P  │  Memory      │
   │  Workflows   │◄────►│  Workflows   │
   │  Conversations│      │  Conversations│
   └──────────────┘      └──────────────┘

QUI Mothership (qui.is)

Mothership is the hosted service at qui.is. You don't install it — you register an account and it connects automatically when you run QUI Core.

What it handles:

  • One account, all devices — single identity across every QUI Core installation
  • Billing — prepaid credit balance that can be applied to subscriptions and add-on features. Each LLM call reserves the estimated cost, charges actual usage, and refunds the difference. One balance covers all four providers
  • LLM proxy routing — forwards your requests to Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), Google (Gemini), or X (Grok). You never manage API keys directly
  • Federation — lets characters on different QUI Core instances discover and message each other

What it does NOT handle:

  • Storing conversations — zero-knowledge; content never touches the server
  • Managing characters, memory, or workflows — that's all local
  • Running AI models — generation happens at the provider or on your local machine

Changing password

  • Login to the Mothership via qui.is.
  • Go to Settings, Change Password.

Screenshot_2026-09-09_15-57-09.png

QUI Core (Your Machine - local or VPS)

QUI Core is the local gateway that runs on your device. It's the dashboard where you manage everything — characters, services, memory, workflows, and settings.

What it handles:

  • Local dashboard — manage characters, monitor services, built-in terminal and diagnostic tools
  • Service orchestration — coordinates Anima (characters), Memory, ThinkThing (workflows), Cortex (consolidation), Autothink (reasoning), and 10+ more services
  • LLM bridge — routes cloud requests through Mothership for billing, or directly to local models (Qllama) for fully offline operation
  • Privacy boundary — all conversations, character data, and memory stay on your machine. Always

Core services at a glance:

Service What It Does
Anima Character engine — personality, tools, LLM routing
Memory Semantic memory with vector embeddings
ThinkThing Visual workflow builder (143+ node types)
Strings Chat interface — direct, multi-character, external channels
Cortex Memory consolidation (8 modes)
Autothink 14 thinking strategies for deep reasoning
Qonscious Consciousness state machine
M2M Inter-agent messaging and federation
Voice Text-to-speech and speech-to-text
MCP Gateway 165+ tool integrations

In This Section

  • Installation — System requirements, running the installer, post-install verification
  • First Login — Opening the dashboard, trust scores, device linking
  • Your Character — Setting up your own identity in the system
  • Dashboard Tour — Every tab in the QUI Core dashboard explained
  • Billing — How billing works, adding funds, spending limits, BYOK
Updated on Sep 9, 2026
QUI