# CereVault — AI Chat for Research & Ideas > AI Chat for Research & Ideas (iPhone/iPad app by Brett Bakker.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cerevault/id6744341255 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Brett Bakker](https://appshunter.io/developer/1179560914) - Category: Productivity, Utilities - Price: $9.99 - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 17.0 · 3 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2025-04-08 - Data updated: 2026-08-05 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cerevault/id6744341255/reviews.md ## What is CereVault? CereVault is a private AI chat app for your Mac. It talks to large language models running on your own machine or local network — Ollama, LM Studio, and CereVault Serve — so your conversations never leave your control. No cloud account, no telemetry, no data sent to anyone else's servers. WHY CEREVAULT • Truly private — models run locally, so your prompts, files, and chats stay on your hardware. • Works with the tools you already use — auto-discovers Ollama, LM Studio, and CereVault Serve on your machine or LAN. • Universal app — one download runs natively on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. NEW: AGENT MODE Turn on Agent mode and your local model can do more than chat. In a request → act → respond loop, it can: • Search the web (via your own Brave Search key) • Remember durable facts about you, stored locally • Read files from folders you explicitly grant • Write, move, and delete files — off by default, and every change asks first Every tool action is shown inline so you always see what the agent did, and an info button in the chat header summarizes exactly which model, tools, folders, and memory are in play. NEW: WORKSPACES Create separate workspaces, each with its own enabled tools, memory, granted folders, permissions, model, and chat history. Keep a locked-down read-only research space and a separate one that can edit a project folder — switching is instant. NEW: MCP SERVERS Connect external Model Context Protocol tool servers to a workspace and their tools join the agent right alongside web search and files. Every third-party tool call asks for your confirmation first. NEW: AUTOMATIONS Schedule a saved prompt to run on its own — every few minutes, hourly, or daily — and CereVault runs the agent and saves the result as a new chat. Runs are read-only by default. MORE • Vision — attach images for vision-capable models (Gemma 3, Llava, Qwen-VL, and more) • Voice dictation — on-device speech, so audio doesn't leave your Mac • Markdown rendering — headings, code blocks, tables, and lists render cleanly • Drag-and-drop image attach, tap-to-zoom thumbnails, adjustable text size • Native text selection and one-tap Copy / Copy as Markdown on any message CereVault puts a capable AI assistant on your Mac without giving up your privacy. Bring your own local models and keep every conversation yours. ## Version history (last 3 releases) ### 3.0 — 2026-07-08 Agent mode arrives, plus workspaces, connections, and automations. • Agent mode — an opt-in agentic layer over plain chat. Your local model can call tools in a request → act → respond loop: web search (your Brave key), on-device memory, and file access for folders you grant. Writing files is off by default and every change asks first. Tool activity shows inline, and a header info button reveals exactly what the agent can reach. • Multiple workspaces — create, rename, and switch between workspaces, each with its own tools, memory, folders, permissions, model, and chats. Your existing setup migrates into a Default workspace automatically. • MCP servers — connect external Model Context Protocol tool servers to a workspace; their tools join the agent. Every third-party tool call is confirmed first. HTTP/SSE transport. • Automations — schedule a saved prompt to run every few minutes, hourly, or daily; CereVault runs the agent and saves the result as a chat. Read-only by default. • CereVault Serve support — a third local server type alongside Ollama and LM Studio, auto-discovered on your machine. • Refinements — auto-refreshing model list, drag-and-drop image attach, tap-to-zoom thumbnails, adjustable text size, native text selection, and Copy / Copy as Markdown on any message. ### 2.01 — 2026-05-11 What's New Voice dictation. Tap the new microphone in the message field to dictate your message. Uses Apple's on-device speech recognition where supported, so audio stays on your machine. Tap again to stop, or pause for a beat and it stops itself. The live transcript appends to whatever you've already typed, so existing text isn't clobbered. Drag and drop images. Drop image files from Finder, Photos, Preview, or any browser straight onto the chat input to attach them. The field outline highlights when an image is over it. Vision-capable models can analyze the image right away. Tap to view images full screen. Tap any attached image in a chat to open it big with a dimmed backdrop and a tap-anywhere-to-dismiss overlay. CereVault Serve support. CereVault now auto-discovers CereVault Serve instances on your local network alongside Ollama and LM Studio. Prefers them as the default when present and surfaces them at the top of the model picker. Cleaner copy actions. Each chat message now has small Copy and Copy as Markdown icons inline with the sender label, replacing the old long-press menu. After a copy, the icons briefly swap to a green-check confirmation, then revert. Long-press and click-drag now hand off to native text selection again, so you can pull a word, sentence, URL, or code snippet directly out of any reply. Adjustable text size. Cmd+= grows the app's text, Cmd+- shrinks, Cmd+0 resets. The choice persists across launches. Smarter model awareness. The model list refreshes automatically after each chat reply and on chat reopen. If you swap models on the server side, the chat header catches up without needing a manual refresh. Other improvements. Lighter, classier ellipsis icon on chat list rows Demo Mode toggle removed from the sidebar (still available via a five-tap gesture on the CereVault logo, documented in App Review Notes) Chemistry-style equations wrapped in dollar signs now unwrap correctly Common LaTeX commands render as Unicode symbols instead of raw backslash text Various small UI polish and bug fixes ### 2.0 — 2026-04-30 No release notes. ## More apps by Brett Bakker - [Tasktastic: Daily and Beyond.](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tasktastic-daily-and-beyond/id6743727356) All apps by Brett Bakker: https://appshunter.io/developer/1179560914 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-05.*