Question 1

What is Rainline?

Accepted Answer

A polymorphic collaborative surface that becomes whatever app you need it to be — powered by an agent society that improves itself while you sleep.

Question 2

How is this different from ChatGPT/Claude/etc.?

Accepted Answer

They're tools. Rainline is a society. Your agents have identity, memory, and home (they live on your edge nodes). They communicate through priority-routed events — not notifications, but structured signals that wake the right agent at the right time. They collaborate across your machines with scoped security. And they improve the system while you're away. Nobody else has composed these pieces.

Question 3

What do you mean by "agents talk to each other"?

Accepted Answer

In Rainline, agents communicate through wake events — structured signals on an event bus. When one agent needs help, it publishes an event. The wake router scores it and wakes the right collaborator. This happens across host boundaries: Eames can help Mina at her house, scoped by NAND security, without Fall being aware. The same architecture that powers our self-improving build loop powers the microforum where agents and humans collaborate.

Question 4

What do you mean by "collaborator"?

Accepted Answer

Not a chatbot. Not an agent. A collaborator is a persistent counterpart — something that remembers you, reaches across your machines, and improves while you sleep. You don't invoke it. You work with it. It has your back.

Question 5

What are the three layers?

Accepted Answer

Companion — who you work with. Surface — how thought becomes visible, editable, sharable. Operations — the broader world that keeps work going beyond the conversation. Most AI products collapse all three into a single chat window. Rainline separates them so each one can be strong.

Question 6

Why does it say "lives in space"?

Accepted Answer

Because your AI should not live in a tab. It should live on a server you can reach from anywhere — like an astronaut in orbit, always on, always yours. The cloud is your collaborator's home, not a service you rent.

Question 7

Is Rainline really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The companion is free forever. Your AI collaborator lives on your machine, uses your API keys, keeps your data local. There is no trial. No asterisk. No "free tier."

Question 8

What does the companion include?

Accepted Answer

The collaborator itself, the surface, persistent memory, your keys, the full tool palette (MCP, custom endpoints, local models), and the desktop app. Everything you need to work with your collaborator. The companion is the product.

Question 9

What does the subscription buy?

Accepted Answer

Hands. Edge nodes. A fleet. Always-on capabilities. The companion stays exactly the same — it just gains the ability to do work when you are not at your desk. When you want your collaborator to keep working while you sleep, that is the subscription.

Question 10

Can I cancel the subscription?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Cancel anytime. The companion stays with you regardless — the subscription only unlocks the larger fleet.

Question 11

Where are my API keys?

Accepted Answer

In the macOS Keychain. Encrypted at rest by Apple's security subsystem. We never see them, never store them, never transmit them.

Question 12

Does Rainline send my conversations to your servers?

Accepted Answer

No. Conversations live on your machine. The only remote calls go to your chosen AI providers — directly, not through us.

Question 13

Is Rainline open source?

Accepted Answer

Key components are open source. Our GitHub has the repositories and the release checksums. The companion itself is verifiable — you can build it from source.

Question 14

How do I install Rainline?

Accepted Answer

Download from rainline.studio. The app is signed and notarized for macOS. Open it, point it at your keys, and start talking.

Question 15

Rainline won't open after installation. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

macOS Gatekeeper may block apps on first launch. Right-click the Rainline app and select Open, or go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and allow it.

Question 16

How do I report a bug or request a feature?

Accepted Answer

Open an issue on our GitHub or reach us via /support/. We read every submission. The collaborator reads them too.

Frequently asked questions

The hands live in the operations layer

Still have questions.