BrewLM
Questions. Brewed into Answers.
An open-source, private, better NotebookLM
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- OpenRouter
- Local models
See it work.
Put in what you’re studying. Get study material back.
BrewLM reads almost anything you can give it:
- PDFs, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
- Web pages and YouTube videos
- Audio and video recordings, transcribed for you
- Photos and scans, described and read with OCR
- eBooks and your own typed notes
Type / to do almost anything.
Study
/flashcards /quiz /mindmap …6 commands
/flashcards- Make a flashcard deck, with a count and difficulty if you like
/quiz- Make a multiple-choice quiz that keeps score
/mindmap- Outline the key ideas as a mind map
/audio- Make a two-host podcast: deep dive, brief, debate or critique
/report- Write a study guide, briefing, FAQ or timeline
/summarize- Summarize the whole notebook in the chat
Research
/url /note /search …6 commands
/url- Add a web page to your sources
/note- Paste text straight into your sources
/search- Get a quick web answer with links
/research- Write a cited report from several web searches
/ground- Turn answering only from your sources on or off
/constitution- Turn this notebook’s standing instructions on or off
Pictures & voices
/image /edit /remix …5 commands
/image- Generate a picture from a prompt, in any aspect ratio
/edit- Change the latest picture with a short instruction
/remix- Make a new picture inspired by the latest one
/more- Get another picture from the same prompt
/voice- See, add, remove or swap the podcast hosts’ voices
Chat & models
/model /thinking /new …6 commands
/model- Switch, add or remove models in your list
/thinking- Set how hard reasoning models think: low, medium or high
/new- Start a fresh chat; the old one stays saved
/rename- Rename this chat
/queue- Line up the next request while one is running
/details- Show token counts and cost on replies
Your notebooks
/move /clone /star …5 commands
/move- File the notebook into a folder
/clone- Make an exact copy of this notebook
/star- Star or unstar this notebook
/remove- Clear out sources, chats or Studio outputs in bulk
/return- Go back to the homepage
Look & help
/theme /font /help3 commands
/theme- Switch between 12 themes
/font- Change the interface font
/help- Open the guide to everything above
Your files stay on your computer.
- No account
- BrewLM works without an account. We only require accounts for BrewLM Sync.
- Your own AI key
- Use OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, or local models. Your key is stored locally.
- No tracking
- BrewLM sends no analytics or telemetry. Syncing features are end-to-end encrypted.
- Open source
- BrewLM is open source (Apache 2.0), so anyone can read the code and verify how it handles your data.
One notebook per class, project or book.
Group notebooks into folders, star the ones you’re using this week, and give each one a cover so it’s easy to find.
See what your AI costs.
BrewLM tracks every OpenRouter request, so you can see your spend by day and by model before your provider’s bill arrives.
BrewLM and NotebookLM
| Feature | BrewLM | NotebookLM (Google) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free, paid plan for more |
| Account needed | No | Google account |
| Where your files live | Your computer | Google’s cloud |
| AI models | Your choice: OpenAI, Anthropic or any model on OpenRouter | Gemini only |
| Sync capabilities | End-to-end encrypted | Google Cloud sync (not E2E) |
| Drawing pad | Yes (Excalidraw) | No |
| Custom answer rules | Yes (Constitution) | No |
| Custom themes | Yes | No |
| Command support | Yes | No |
| Open source | Yes, Apache 2.0 | No |
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. BrewLM is free and open source. You pay only for your own AI usage, directly to the provider (we support open source models by the way). We only charge for an optional Sync feature.
Which AI should I use?
Any of OpenAI, Anthropic or OpenRouter works. One OpenRouter key gives you Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek and more, and you can switch models whenever you like.
Does it work without internet?
You can read, organize and search your notebooks offline. Asking questions and making study material needs a connection to your AI provider.
My computer says the app can’t be opened. What do I do?
BrewLM isn’t signed with Apple or Microsoft yet, so you’ll see a warning the first time. On a Mac, right-click the app and choose Open. On Windows, choose More info, then Run anyway. If macOS says the app is damaged, run xattr -cr /Applications/BrewLM.app in Terminal once.
How is it different from NotebookLM?
NotebookLM runs in Google’s cloud with Google’s models. BrewLM runs on your computer with the AI you choose, is open source, and only sends your documents to the AI provider you picked when you ask a question.
Download BrewLM
Free and open source.
The Mac download works on Intel and Apple silicon. Other formats are on the releases page.
On your phone? Use BrewLM on your iPhone or Android with BrewLM Sync.
git clone https://github.com/VSRemoter/BrewLM.git
cd BrewLM
npm install
npm run tauri dev