Changelog

Release history for PAI. Pulled fromGitHub Releases at build time.

v0.1.0

StableView on GitHub ↗

First public release of PAI — a bootable USB Linux distribution for private, offline AI.

PAI v0.1.0

First public release of PAI — a bootable USB Linux distribution for private, offline AI. Flash the ISO to a USB stick, boot any recent amd64 or arm64 machine from it, and you have a self-contained Sway desktop with a local LLM stack that runs entirely on-device.

Core system

  • Bootable live-USB ISO for amd64 and arm64, built from Debian 12.
  • Sway (Wayland tiling compositor) with Waybar status bar and app launcher.
  • pai-settings — a wofi-driven settings menu for quick toggles and tools.

AI stack

  • Ollama preinstalled with llama3.2:1b baked into the ISO, so the system works end-to-end with zero network access on first boot.
  • Open WebUI as the default chat interface, PAI-branded.
  • First-boot model picker — detects available RAM, suggests a size-matched model, and offers a one-click download. Offline-safe: falls back to the baked-in model if there’s no internet.

Privacy & security

  • pai-shutdown wipes memory (zeroing free RAM) before powering off, so no residual model or chat state survives in DRAM.
  • UFW firewall enabled by default with a default-deny inbound policy.
  • MAC address randomization on every boot (WiFi and Ethernet).
  • Optional Tor privacy mode — opt-in toggle for network-level privacy.

Encrypted persistence (opt-in)

  • pai-persistence first-boot wizard creates a LUKS2 (argon2id) partition on the USB stick. Persists Ollama models, Open WebUI history, and WiFi credentials across reboots, with optional home-directory persistence.

Crypto wallet toolkits

  • Offline Solana, Ethereum/EVM, and BIP39 seed-phrase generators bundled for air-gapped key management. Launch with $mod+Shift+S, $mod+Shift+E, and $mod+Shift+9 in the crypto profile.

Installation & flashing

  • pai CLI (pai flash, pai try, pai verify, pai doctor) for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
  • Windows one-liner flasher: irm https://pai.direct/flash.ps1 | iex
  • Browser-based install assistant at /flash-web.
  • Homebrew, Scoop, Winget, and Arch AUR packages.
  • Raspberry Pi Imager custom repository at https://pai.direct/imager.json.

Verify your download

sha256sum -c pai-v0.1.0-amd64.iso.sha256

Known limitations

  • No signed shims for Secure Boot — disable it or add a MOK manually.
  • Open WebUI runs without authentication (single-user live-system model).
  • PowerShell flashers are not Authenticode-signed yet — planned for v0.2.
  • ISO minisign signatures are not published for v0.1.0 — SHA-256 checksum verification is the only verification path on this release. Full authenticity verification via minisign becomes available starting v0.2.

See the full changelog on GitHub for complete notes.

v0.1.0-rc1

Pre-releaseView on GitHub ↗

## PAI v0.1.0-rc1

PAI v0.1.0-rc1

First public pre-release of PAI (Pocket AI) — a bootable live-USB operating system for private local AI.

Download and flash to a USB drive, then boot from USB on any x86_64 PC.

What’s included

  • Debian 12 (Bookworm) base, Sway desktop (Wayland)
  • Ollama for local LLM inference
  • Open WebUI at localhost:8080
  • Firefox ESR
  • UFW firewall (default-deny), MAC randomization, opt-in Tor
  • Electrum Bitcoin wallet, aisleriot games
  • Amnesic: RAM-only, leaves no trace on the host machine

Flash to USB

Linux / macOS:

sudo dd if=pai-0.1.0-rc1-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync

Replace /dev/sdX with your USB drive (use lsblk to identify).

Windows: Use Rufus or balenaEtcher.

Boot

Plug in the USB, restart, press F12 / F2 / DEL / Esc (depends on your BIOS) and select the USB device. The desktop loads in about 60 seconds.

Known issues in rc1

  • Sway autostart requires WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1 on some VMs — set it manually in the Sway config if the cursor doesn’t appear. Fixed in v0.1.0.
  • Open WebUI does not yet show the PAI logo branding. Fixed in v0.1.0.
  • ARM64 build is experimental (Docker --platform=linux/arm64 required).

Verify

sha256sum --check SHA256SUMS

Architecture

amd64 (x86_64). ARM64 ISO coming in v0.1.0.

PAI v1.0.0

Stable

Initial public release — boot a private AI workstation from any USB drive.

PAI 1.0 is publicly available. Boot a private AI workstation from any USB drive — no installation, no cloud, no tracking.

What’s included

  • Ollama with Llama 3.2 and Mistral models pre-loaded
  • Flash app to write PAI to a USB drive from any OS
  • Verified boot with signed image checksums
  • Full disk encryption with LUKS2
  • Supports x86_64 and ARM64 (including Apple Silicon via Asahi)

Download

Grab the image from the Flash app on this page, or download directly from the releases page.