The web is a sea of information. Everyone deserves their own pond.

Install

macOS

Download the latest .dmg from GitHub Releases, or install it with Homebrew:

brew tap raphaelsalaja/pond https://github.com/raphaelsalaja/pond
brew install --cask raphaelsalaja/pond/pond

Pond needs macOS 13 or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel. It's signed and notarized, and it updates itself from GitHub Releases.

Windows

Download Pond-X.Y.Z-x64.exe from GitHub Releases and run it. The installer sets Pond up for your user account and does not need administrator rights. Pond needs 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 on x64, and it updates itself from GitHub Releases.

The installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC" on first run. Choose More info, then Run anyway. Windows on Arm is not built yet.

Linux

Download Pond-X.Y.Z.deb from GitHub Releases and install it with your package manager:

sudo apt install ./Pond-X.Y.Z.deb

The deb registers the desktop entry, the pond:// handler, and the browser native host. Pond needs a 64-bit Linux desktop with GLIBC 2.31 or later (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, and newer), and it updates itself from GitHub Releases.

A portable Pond-X.Y.Z.AppImage is also published. Make it executable and run it:

chmod +x Pond-X.Y.Z.AppImage
./Pond-X.Y.Z.AppImage

On distributions that restrict unprivileged user namespaces (Ubuntu 23.10 and later), the AppImage needs --no-sandbox or an AppArmor profile. Prefer the deb there. AppImage builds do not add themselves to your application menu; to install desktop integration, use AppImageLauncher or create the entry by hand. Linux on Arm is not built yet.

Browser extension

Saving from the web and connecting accounts in Sources both need the Pond extension. Install it from the Chrome Web Store for Chrome, Arc, Brave, and Edge, or from Firefox Add-ons for Firefox and Zen. In Pond, Browser Extension in the library menu links to both.

Click the Pond icon or right-click a page to save. Pond must have opened once so the extension can reach it. To build the extension from source, see apps/extension/README.md.

Raycast extension

The Raycast extension searches your active Library, saves URLs, opens Saves, and switches recent Libraries. See apps/raycast/README.md for setup.

CLI

Install the local automation client from npm:

npm install --global @pond/cli
pond auth authorize --token <token>
pond doctor

Copy the Local API token from Pond Settings. The CLI launches Pond when needed and sends every Library operation through the authenticated loopback service. Run pond --help for commands and output formats. To call the API directly, see Local API.

Development

Requires Node.js 24 (see .nvmrc) and pnpm 11.27.0. On Windows, see Windows development for the extra prerequisites.

pnpm install
pnpm dev

Extension dev (separate terminal):

pnpm --filter @pond/extension dev

Raycast extension dev (separate terminal):

pnpm --dir apps/raycast develop

CLI development:

pnpm cli -- --help
pnpm cli:build

If native modules fail after an Electron upgrade:

pnpm --filter @pond/desktop rebuild

See apps/desktop/README.md for architecture and on-disk layout. Before contributing, read the contributor guide, code standards, and desktop architecture. Run pnpm check and pnpm build from the repository root to verify a change.

Assistant and MCP

Assistant lives in the right column. It searches this library with a key you paste in Settings, or a local host you run such as Ollama or LM Studio. Pond never stores those keys on a Pond server.

You can also use a subscription through a local Codex or Claude Code installation. In a terminal, run codex login and sign in with ChatGPT, or run claude auth login and sign in with your Claude plan. In Settings → Providers → Subscriptions, add the provider and click Connect. Select its default model in the Assistant composer. No API key is needed. Removing a connection from Pond does not sign you out of the CLI.

These connections run the official CLIs on your computer; inference still goes to OpenAI or Anthropic and counts against your plan's limits. Pond does not read or copy CLI tokens: Codex receives a narrow link to its existing file-backed ChatGPT sign-in (Windows needs Developer Mode for the symlink; without it Codex is unavailable rather than copied). Keyring-backed Codex sign-ins are rejected with instructions to create the isolated file-backed connection that Pond requires. API-key sign-ins are rejected and inherited provider credentials and routing overrides are removed from these processes. The CLI returns structured requests to Pond's existing tool loop, so Library access, citations, and review before Apply retain the same behavior. CLI tools, MCP, and user or project customizations are disabled. Organization-managed Claude Code policy hooks can still run because Claude Code applies administrator policy in safe mode; its hook-free bare mode also disables the subscription OAuth credentials this connection needs. This integration supports text and Library tools; use a vision provider for image or file attachments. The default model is selected by the CLI; custom model IDs must be available to your plan. Fast and Reasoning controls are not exposed for these connections.

Cursor, Claude, and other MCP hosts can search the same library. Pond speaks MCP over stdio. This block belongs in Cursor mcp.json. It launches Pond as a local stdio server (--mcp) against the library on this computer:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pond": {
      "command": "/Applications/Pond.app/Contents/MacOS/Pond",
      "args": ["--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

On Windows the command is the installed Pond.exe, by default C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Programs\Pond\Pond.exe. Copy the exact command from Settings → Model Context Protocol → Advanced. Pond does not host a public MCP URL.

Library

The desktop library is a three-column DAM: folder sidebar, image list, Assistant. Folders, Uncategorized, List layout, and Eagle import that keeps folder trees ship in this cut.

See the roadmap for what's next. Not on it: Eagle Cloud, their Plugin Center store, or Photoshop-class format preview.

How sourcing works (and your responsibility)

Pond's source adapters run entirely through your own authenticated browser session, on your own machine. There are no Pond-operated scraping servers and no credential harvesting. Pond never sees or stores your platform passwords or cookies on any remote service. When you import from a source, a hidden local browser window loads the pages you already have access to and reads what's on them.

Because that traffic comes from your account, Pond is deliberately conservative: a built-in rate governor paces every request, respects platform rate-limit signals (retry-after and friends), backs off instead of escalating, persists cooldowns across restarts, and hard-stops a source if it detects a challenge/checkpoint. You can turn off automatic fetching at any time in Settings → Harvesting.

That said, you are responsible for your own use of each platform under its Terms of Service. Pond is a personal tool for organizing things you've already saved; use it accordingly. If you're writing or reviewing a source adapter, see the CONTRIBUTING "Add a source" section for the boundaries adapter authors are expected to respect.

Read Responsible use before you connect an account.

Support Pond

Pond is free, open source, and made by one person. Support covers the Apple Developer membership, Windows code signing, the website, and time to keep sources working as sites change.

• Buy Me a Coffee, once or monthly
• GitHub Sponsors
• Star the repository to help others find it

Documentation

• License
• Privacy
• Responsible Use
• Roadmap
• Security
• Releasing
• Contributing
• Extension
• Raycast Extension
• Supported File Formats