Developers
Build with Kalon.
Guides and reference for all three products, 34 documents in all. The local API and the ways to extend the assistant, the optical transfer protocol, and the offline mesh.
- Getting startedInstall Kalon, download a first model, and run a prompt with every network connection blocked.
- Models and memoryHow the model catalogue is organised, how Kalon sizes a model to your memory, and what happens when one will not fit.
- Chat and agent modeChoose a model, control reasoning, and let the agent work with files, documents and memory using 21 built-in tools.
- Voice and dictationTalk to Kalon hands-free, dictate into any Mac app with a shortcut, and have replies read aloud in a neural or cloned voice.
- Images and documentsAttach images, PDFs and office files. Kalon extracts their text on the device, reads scanned pages with OCR, and retrieves the relevant parts of long documents.
- MemoryWhat Kalon remembers, when it reads those notes, how to review and delete them, and when they may reach an online model.
- Local APIA complete reference for the HTTP server in Kalon for Mac, with OpenAI-compatible and native endpoints, streaming, model loading and network access.
- MCP servers, skills, and pluginsConnect Model Context Protocol servers over stdio or HTTP, sign in with OAuth, and extend the agent with skills and plugin bundles.
- Writing a skillThe skill file format, where skills live, how Kalon decides to load one, and a worked example.
- Kalon LinkPair an iPhone or iPad with your Mac so it can run its chats on the Mac's models over your own Wi-Fi, protected by a pinned TLS key and a per-device token.
- Encrypted backupsMove your conversations to another Mac or iPhone in one password-protected file, encrypted with Argon2id and AES-256-GCM.
- Privacy and networkEvery connection Kalon can make, the two switches that govern them, what online providers receive, and where your data is stored.
- Family profilesGive each child their own space with separate chats, an age-appropriate register and no network access, with local screen time and an optional weekly summary.
- Build modeBuild software with the agent on the Mac, in a workspace folder with a live preview, a Git diff panel and real terminals.
- Settings referenceEvery pane in Kalon's settings on the Mac and iPhone, with defaults, plus the Mac's notch and keyboard shortcuts.
- TroubleshootingWhat Kalon's error messages mean and how to fix the most common problems with models, downloads, voice, the local API, MCP and Kalon Link.
Optical transfer
Air Kalon
The screen-to-camera protocol, its codes, and its wire format.
Start with overview- OverviewWhat Air Kalon moves, what it needs, and the parts it is built from.
- User guideSend and receive a file step by step on the Mac, iPhone and iPad, and what each setting does.
- How it worksThe optical channel end to end, from the KCF1 container and RaptorQ coding to frame pacing, the camera and the decoder.
- Wire formatByte-level reference for the mode 2 frame, the acknowledgement frame and the KCF1 file container.
- Protocol and state machineHow a sender and a receiver behave over the life of a transfer, frame by frame, including verification, session switches and the acknowledgement loop.
- PerformanceMeasured throughput, coding overhead and decoder cost on real devices, how each number was measured, and what the numbers do and do not show.
- Security and privacyWhat Air Kalon protects, what it does not, what an onlooker can capture, and how the receiver defends itself against hostile frames.
- Integration and buildingThe Rust core, its 42-function C interface, the AirKalonKit Swift package, and how to build and test everything from source.
- Limitations, troubleshooting and FAQThe limits Air Kalon has today, how to fix a transfer that is slow or stuck, and answers to common questions.
Offline messaging and calls
AirLink
The mesh, the sealed message format, and the call path over Bluetooth LE and peer-to-peer Wi-Fi.
Start with overview- OverviewWhat AirLink does today, the devices it runs on, and how the mesh, the sealed messages and the calls fit together.
- User guideGo on the air, add a contact by number, message, call, and find a nearby device, on the Mac, iPhone and iPad.
- How it worksThe two transports, flooding with a hop limit, retries and receipts, identity, and how a call is set up and carried.
- Wire formatByte-level reference for the mesh packet, the sealed message, the inner content types, call signalling, voice frames, and the Bluetooth and Bonjour identifiers.
- Protocol and state machineWhat a node does when a link comes up, when a packet arrives and when it sends, and the call state machine from dial to hang-up.
- PerformanceWhat has been measured on real devices, what is computed from the wire format, what comes from a bench simulation, and what has not been measured yet.
- Security and privacyThe keys, the primitives, what a relay or an eavesdropper can see, what is stored on the device and how it is protected, and the limits of the design.
- Integration and buildingThe AirLinkCore Swift package, its main types for the mesh, sealing, chat and calls, and how to build and test the apps from source.
- Limitations, troubleshooting and FAQWhat AirLink cannot do today, how to fix the common problems, and answers to frequent questions.