Zitong

Your AI, one shortcut away — even above fullscreen apps.

Zitong is a native desktop AI chat client for macOS and Windows. Press a hotkey, select any text in any app, and let AI transform it instantly — no context switching required.

Lightweight, private (all data stored locally), and works with 10+ AI providers.

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Why Zitong?

Most AI chat apps are browser tabs. Zitong is different:

• Instant overlay — Press ⌘⇧Space to summon a Spotlight-like command palette that floats above everything, including fullscreen apps, across all macOS Spaces.
• Works on selected text — Zitong auto-captures your current selection, runs an AI command on it, and gives you the result ready to paste back. No copy-paste dance.
• 10+ providers, one app — Switch between OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Ollama (local), and more. Mix and match per conversation.
• 100% local data — Conversations, settings, and templates live in a local SQLite database. Nothing leaves your machine except API calls to your chosen provider.

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✨ Key Features

🎯 Overlay Command Palette

The headline feature. A Spotlight-style panel you can invoke from anywhere:

1. Select text in any app (browser, editor, terminal, etc.)
2. Press the global hotkey (⌘⇧Space by default)
3. Pick an AI command — Zitong auto-copies your selection, sends it to the LLM with the command's prompt
4. Act on the result:
   • Replace — puts the AI result in your clipboard, ready to paste over the original
   • Insert After — appends the result after your original text
   • Open in Chat — continues the conversation in the full chat window
   • Shorter / Longer — quick refinements without leaving the overlay
   • Follow-up — type a custom instruction to iterate on the result

Works above fullscreen apps on macOS via NSPanel. On Windows, the overlay uses a standard always-on-top window.

💬 Full Chat Interface

A complete conversation UI when you need more than a quick command:

• Streaming responses with real-time token display and stop button
• Markdown + syntax-highlighted code blocks (with one-click copy)
• Switch provider & model mid-conversation — models are fetched live from each provider's API
• Auto-generated conversation titles after the first exchange
• Token count per message
• Multiple chat styles — Minimal, Bubble, or Card layout

🤖 Custom Assistants

Create AI personas tailored to your workflow:

• Define a system prompt, emoji icon, and description
• Override provider, model, temperature (0–2), and max tokens per assistant
• Set a default assistant that's auto-selected on launch
• Switch assistants mid-conversation from the chat header

📝 Prompt Templates

Reusable prompts with dynamic variables:

• Use {{variable}} syntax — variables are auto-detected and shown in a visual preview
• Organize templates by category (General, Coding, Writing, Analysis, Creative)

⚡ AI Commands

Customizable commands that power the overlay palette:

• Configure each command's behavior (Replace, Insert After, or Open in Chat)
• Set a system prompt, provider, model, and output language per command
• Assign keyboard shortcuts for your most-used commands
• Enable/disable and reorder commands

🔌 Multi-Provider Support

Connect to any combination of these providers:

Provider	Auth	Notes
OpenAI	API key	GPT-4o, GPT-4, etc.
Anthropic	API key	Claude 3.5, Claude 3, etc.
Google Gemini	API key
GitHub Copilot	OAuth	Full device-flow sign-in
Ollama	None	Local models, no API key needed
Mistral	API key
Groq	API key
DeepSeek	API key
OpenRouter	API key
xAI (Grok)	API key
OpenAI-compatible	API key + base URL	Any compatible endpoint

Each provider supports: enable/disable toggle, live model fetching, set-as-default, and connection testing.

🎨 Appearance & Customization

• Theme: System, Light, or Dark
• Accent colors: Violet, Blue, Purple, Green, Orange, Red, Pink, Cyan
• Font: System Default, Inter, JetBrains Mono, SF Pro (size 12–20px)
• Code themes: One Dark, GitHub, Dracula, Solarized
• Compact mode for smaller screens

🖥️ Native Desktop Experience

• System tray — close the window and Zitong keeps running in the background
• Launch at login — start hidden, ready for your first hotkey press
• macOS menu bar integration with standard Edit/Window menus
• Separate settings window — changes sync live to the main app

🔍 Comparison with Alternatives

Feature	Zitong	BoltAI	ChatGPT App	Claude App	Raycast AI	Jan	Msty
Overlay above fullscreen apps	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
Auto-capture selected text	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
Multi-provider (10+)	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Local models (Ollama)	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
GitHub Copilot support	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Custom AI commands	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
Custom assistants	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅
Prompt templates with variables	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Cross-platform	✅ macOS/Win	❌ macOS only	✅ macOS/Win	✅ macOS/Win	❌ macOS only	✅ macOS/Win	✅ macOS/Win
Open source	✅ MIT	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅ AGPL	❌
100% local data	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Free	✅	❌ Paid	✅ Free tier	✅ Free tier	❌ Paid	✅	✅ Free tier

In short: Zitong combines the overlay-driven workflow of BoltAI with cross-platform support, GitHub Copilot integration, and full open-source transparency — at no cost.

🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Framework	Tauri 2.x (Rust backend + webview frontend)
Frontend	React 19 · TypeScript · Vite · Tailwind CSS 4
Database	SQLite (via rusqlite, bundled)
HTTP/Streaming	reqwest + Tokio async runtime
UI Libraries	Lucide icons · React Markdown (GFM) · React Syntax Highlighter
Tauri Plugins	Global Shortcuts · Clipboard Manager · Dialog · Opener · Auto-start · tauri-nspanel (macOS overlay)

📋 Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20.19+ or v22.12+)
• npm (package manager, bundled with Node.js)
• Rust (latest stable)
• Operating System: macOS 10.15+ or Windows 10+

🚀 Installation

From Source

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/sykuang/Zitong.git
   cd Zitong

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Run in development mode

   npx tauri dev

Building for Production

1. Build the application

   npx tauri build

2. Install the built application

   macOS:

   npm run install:dmg

   This will mount the DMG and copy the app to your Applications folder.

   Windows: The installer will be in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

macOS: Bypassing Gatekeeper (Unsigned Build)

Release builds are not notarized or code-signed, so macOS Gatekeeper will block the app on first launch. Use one of the methods below to allow it.

Option A — Right-click → Open (easiest)

1. Open Finder → Applications
2. Right-click (or Control-click) Zitong.app
3. Select Open from the context menu
4. In the dialog that appears, click Open

You only need to do this once; subsequent launches work normally.

Option B — System Settings

1. Try opening Zitong normally (it will be blocked)
2. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security
3. Scroll down — you'll see "Zitong" was blocked from use because it is not from an identified developer
4. Click Open Anyway and authenticate

Option C — Terminal (xattr)

xattr -cr /Applications/Zitong.app

This strips the quarantine flag. You can then open the app normally.

🎯 Quick Start

1. Set up a provider

Launch Zitong → open Settings (⌘,) → go to Providers → add an API key for at least one provider (or connect GitHub Copilot via OAuth, or point to a local Ollama instance).

2. Chat

Click New Chat in the sidebar or press ⌘N. Pick a model from the dropdown and start talking.

3. Use the overlay

Select text anywhere on your screen → press ⌘⇧Space → pick a command (e.g., "Fix Grammar", "Explain Code", "Translate") → the result is ready to paste.

GitHub Copilot Setup

1. Settings → Providers → select GitHub Copilot
2. Click Authenticate with GitHub — a device code is shown and auto-copied
3. Complete the OAuth flow in your browser
4. Models become available immediately

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	macOS	Windows
Overlay Command Palette	⌘⇧Space (customizable)	Ctrl+Shift+Space
New Chat	⌘N	Ctrl+N
Toggle Sidebar	⌘B	Ctrl+B
Open Settings	⌘,	Ctrl+,
Search Conversations	⌘K	Ctrl+K
Focus Chat Input	⌘L	Ctrl+L
Delete Conversation	⌘⇧⌫	Ctrl+Shift+Backspace

The global hotkey is fully customizable in Settings → Shortcuts with a visual key recorder.

🗄️ Data Storage

Zitong stores all data locally in a SQLite database:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.primattek.zitong/zitong.db
• Windows: %APPDATA%\com.primattek.zitong\zitong.db

The database includes:

• Conversations and messages
• AI provider configurations
• Settings and preferences
• Prompt templates
• Custom assistants
• AI commands

🔧 Development

Project Structure

Zitong/
├── src/                    # React frontend
│   ├── components/         # UI components
│   ├── context/           # React context providers
│   ├── commands/          # Tauri IPC wrappers
│   └── types/             # TypeScript types
├── src-tauri/             # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── commands.rs    # Tauri command handlers
│   │   ├── providers.rs   # AI provider implementations
│   │   ├── db.rs          # SQLite database layer
│   │   ├── panel.rs       # macOS overlay support
│   │   └── lib.rs         # Main entry point
│   └── Cargo.toml         # Rust dependencies
├── package.json           # Node.js dependencies
└── vite.config.ts         # Vite configuration

Running Tests

# Frontend tests
npm run build

# Rust tests
cd src-tauri
cargo test

Code Style

• Frontend: ESLint + Prettier
• Backend: rustfmt + clippy

# Format Rust code
cd src-tauri
cargo fmt

# Lint Rust code
cargo clippy

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with Tauri
• Inspired by BoltAI
• Icons from Lucide

📧 Contact

• GitHub: @sykuang
• Project Link: https://github.com/sykuang/Zitong

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Note: This is an early-stage project under active development. Some features may be incomplete or experimental.