An AI that also workswhen the web does not.
Survival LLM is a free AI assistant and emergency library that runs solely by yourself pc.
Ask it tips on how to preserve meals secure in a blackout, deal with a burn, or purify water, and it solutions from
trusted sources and exhibits you precisely the place every reply got here from.
Free and open supply. Set it up whilst you have web; after that it wants none.
What it does
Works with no web
The AI mannequin and the library stay in your pc. Nothing you ask leaves it.
Shows its sources
Every reply lists the articles it learn. Click one to learn it your self, with the precise passage highlighted.
Made for emergencies
Medical references, FEMA and CDC steerage, survival manuals, how-to guides, restore guides and about 930,000 Wikipedia articles.
Pick your model
The app is identical all over the place. When it opens, it checks your pc’s reminiscence and downloads the AI mannequin that matches.
More reminiscence means a better mannequin.
| Your pc | AI mannequin it makes use of | Our emergency take a look at | Model obtain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mac with 128 GB or extra reminiscence | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Super | 21 of twenty-two proper | 80 GB |
| Mac with 32–96 GB | Qwen3.8 27B | 21 of twenty-two proper | 18 GB |
| Windows PC with 32 GB or extra | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | 19 of twenty-two proper | 25 GB |
| Mac or PC with 16–31 GB | IBM Granite 4.2 8B | 14 of twenty-two proper | 6 GB |
“Right” means it acquired the principle level of official steerage proper on 22 blackout and first-aid
questions, graded blind, in our exams on an earlier construct of the library (how we
tested). Smaller fashions make extra errors, so the app at all times exhibits the supply to examine.
Plus the library: a 9 GB obtain for all the pieces (19 GB as soon as put in), or
1.3 GB (3 GB put in) with out Wikipedia and iFixit. Free disk area wanted: the mannequin’s
dimension plus 5 GB, plus about 27 GB whereas the complete library installs (10 GB for the smaller one).
Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or newer) with macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, and 64-bit Windows 10 or 11.
Set it up in three steps
Setup takes 20 minutes to about 2½ hours, relying in your pc and your web pace. You solely click on for
about 5 minutes; the remainder is downloading.
- Download Survival LLM for Mac or Windows
and unzip it. On Windows, right-click the zip and select Extract All. - Open it. On a Mac, double-click Survival LLM. On Windows, open the extracted folder and
double-click Survival LLM.bat. - Follow the setup. The app opens in its personal window and downloads the AI engine (constructed into the Mac
app), the AI mannequin that matches your pc, and the library. Let it end whilst you’re on-line.
The first time you open it, your pc warns you, as a result of the app is not bought by an app retailer.
Mac: click on Done, open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll right down to
“Survival LLM was blocked”, click on Open Anyway and make sure along with your password. You solely do that as soon as.
Windows: click on More data, then Run anyway.
What’s within the library
Plain-text copies of overtly licensed (some for non-commercial use solely) and public-domain references, searchable
in a fraction of a second:
- About 930,000 of Wikipedia’s most-read articles
- WikiMed medical encyclopedia
- MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
- UK Medicines A to Z (public sector info)
- WikEM emergency drugs
- Ready.gov (FEMA) emergency guides
- CDC vacationers’ well being
- U.S. navy drugs and survival manuals
- Risk references for estimating micromorts: life tables and U.S. demise charges
- wikiHow how-to guides
- iFixit restore guides
- Appropedia (applicable know-how)
- Q&A on house restore, cooking, gardening, the outside and ham radio (Stack Exchange)
Each supply retains its personal license, proven with each article; see the
full list with licenses.
Good to know
It may be unsuitable
AI fashions make errors, the small ones extra usually. Every reply exhibits the articles it used, so you may examine.
Private
No account, no monitoring. Your questions by no means depart your pc, and as soon as arrange it really works with the web off.
Your personal information
Add PDFs, Word paperwork, ebooks and notes, like your generator’s handbook or your loved ones’s
emergency plan, and the AI searches them too. They keep in your pc.
Updates
Check for updates, on the backside of the app, installs a brand new model in a single click on and retains your
fashions, library and information.
Battery
On a MacEbook Pro we measured about 100 W whereas it solutions, for five to 40 seconds per query: a full battery
solutions roughly 100 to 300. A small generator or energy station runs it simply.
Update notes
Already have it? Click Check for updates on the backside of the app.
0.3.4 October 27, 2026
- Reasoning setting: subsequent to Send, select how a lot the AI might imagine earlier than it solutions: Off,
1,000, 4,000 or 16,000 tokens, or no restrict. At the restrict its considering stops and it solutions from what it has, so
a mannequin caught reasoning in circles nonetheless solutions. It replaces “Think more durable”. - When the AI appeared issues up however by no means wrote a solution, it now will get one of the best articles it discovered and tries as soon as
extra, as a substitute of displaying nothing. Thanks to betsyisaac for locating this. - Ask it to look one thing up and it searches the library, even when it first answered from reminiscence. Answers say
whether or not they got here from reminiscence, from articles it learn, or from search outcomes it did not open. - A warning when Reasoning or Length restrict is ready to no restrict.
0.3.3 October 27, 2026
- Mac: quitting with Cmd+Q now additionally stops the AI engine and frees the reminiscence its mannequin used. Before, it stored
operating within the background. Thanks to wigginthethird for the report and the repair. - Library search not exhibits a number of copies of the identical web page, so the AI sees extra totally different articles.
Thanks to ahalekelly.
0.3.2 October 27, 2026
- The AI not saves your query as a reminiscence be aware.
- Some solutions not open with a made-up “Sources:” line that listed the AI’s search instructions as a substitute of articles.
- Show reasoning reads extra clearly: it says if you stopped it, the time proven is how lengthy it thought, and lengthy
reasoning scrolls with the web page. - Windows: cleans up an empty folder that earlier updates may depart behind.
0.3.1 October 27, 2026
- Show reasoning: beneath every reply, open what the AI thought earlier than it answered, with the searches
and articles it learn in between. It stays hidden till you click on it. Most fashions motive first solely when
Think more durable is ticked.
0.3.0 October 26, 2026
- Memory: inform it about your self, like a member of the family’s allergy or the generator you personal, and it
retains a brief be aware for later chats. See and edit each be aware beneath Memory, or flip its saving off. - Downloads now work on computer systems whose community or antivirus makes use of its personal certificates.
