InControl-Desktop

Local AI Chat Assistant for Windows

A privacy-first, GPU-accelerated chat application that runs large language models entirely on your machine. No cloud required.

Why InControl?

• Private by default - Your conversations never leave your computer
• RTX-optimized - Built for NVIDIA GPUs with CUDA acceleration
• Native Windows experience - WinUI 3 with Fluent Design
• Multiple backends - Ollama, llama.cpp, or bring your own
• Markdown rendering - Rich text, code blocks, and syntax highlighting

Target Hardware

Component	Minimum	Recommended
GPU	RTX 3060 (8GB)	RTX 4080/5080 (16GB)
RAM	16GB	32GB
OS	Windows 10 1809+	Windows 11
.NET	9.0	9.0

Installation

From Release (Recommended)

1. Download the latest MSIX package from Releases
2. Double-click to install
3. Launch from Start Menu

From Source

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/mcp-tool-shop-org/InControl-Desktop.git
cd InControl-Desktop
dotnet restore
dotnet build

# Run (requires Ollama running locally)
dotnet run --project src/InControl.App

Prerequisites

InControl requires a local LLM backend. We recommend Ollama:

# Install Ollama from https://ollama.ai/download

# Pull a model
ollama pull llama3.2

# Start the server (runs on http://localhost:11434)
ollama serve

Building

Verify Build Environment

# Run verification script
./scripts/verify.ps1

Development Build

dotnet build

Release Build

# Creates release artifacts in artifacts/
./scripts/release.ps1

Run Tests

dotnet test

Architecture

InControl follows a clean, layered architecture:

+-------------------------------------------+
|         InControl.App (WinUI 3)           |  UI Layer
+-------------------------------------------+
|         InControl.ViewModels              |  Presentation
+-------------------------------------------+
|         InControl.Services                |  Business Logic
+-------------------------------------------+
|         InControl.Inference               |  LLM Backends
+-------------------------------------------+
|         InControl.Core                    |  Shared Types
+-------------------------------------------+

See ARCHITECTURE.md for detailed design documentation.

Data Storage

All data is stored locally:

Data	Location
Sessions	%LOCALAPPDATA%\InControl\sessions\
Logs	%LOCALAPPDATA%\InControl\logs\
Cache	%LOCALAPPDATA%\InControl\cache\
Exports	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\InControl\exports\

See PRIVACY.md for complete data handling documentation.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions are documented in TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

Quick Fixes

App won't start:

• Check that .NET 9.0 Runtime is installed
• Run dotnet --list-runtimes to verify

No models available:

• Ensure Ollama is running: ollama serve
• Pull a model: ollama pull llama3.2

GPU not detected:

• Update NVIDIA drivers to latest version
• Check CUDA toolkit installation

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Write tests for new functionality
4. Submit a pull request

Reporting Issues

1. Check TROUBLESHOOTING.md first
2. Use the "Copy Diagnostics" feature in the app
3. Open an issue with diagnostics info attached

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
UI Framework	WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK 1.6)
Architecture	MVVM with CommunityToolkit.Mvvm
LLM Integration	OllamaSharp, Microsoft.Extensions.AI
DI Container	Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection
Configuration	Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration
Logging	Microsoft.Extensions.Logging + Serilog

Version

Current version: 0.4.0-alpha

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

License

MIT

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Built for Windows. Powered by local AI.