What do I pay, and to whom?

Hatch is free and AGPL-licensed. If you connect a cloud model, you pay that model provider directly for the tokens a build uses. The measured example on this page cost $0.16. A compatible local model has no per-build model charge. Hatch takes no cut of what you build, unless you sell the app itself, which needs a commercial agreement.

What can’t Hatch build?

Hatch is for small, self-contained desktop apps that keep their own data. It does not build websites, servers, phone apps or software that must communicate with an online service.

What if Hatch builds the wrong thing?

Describe what should change and Hatch rebuilds the affected parts. Builds are versioned so you can return to an earlier version.

Why does Windows warn me when I install Hatch?

Current builds are not yet code-signed, so Microsoft SmartScreen may show an unrecognized app notice. Code signing is planned before a wide release.

Which computers does Hatch run on?

Hatch supports Windows, macOS and Linux. Apps built with Hatch run on all three platforms too.

Can I sell the apps I build with Hatch?

You can use apps built with Hatch for anything at no charge, personally or in a business, and give them away freely. Charging for your time building an app for a client is also free. Selling the app itself — a price, a licence fee or a subscription — needs a commercial agreement, because every app includes the Hatch runtime it draws its interface with. The generated code, your data and your branding remain yours.

Tailor-made AI desktop apps for the way your business works

Your business. Your app.
Another monthly fee.

Q: Do I need to know how to code?

No. You describe the app and answer questions in ordinary language. Hatch does not require you to write or edit code.

Q: Do I need an API key?

Yes, unless you run a compatible model locally. Hatch connects directly to Anthropic, OpenAI and OpenRouter, supports OpenAI-compatible model servers, and includes presets for Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp and vLLM.

Q: Where does my data go?

Data saved by your generated apps stays on your computer. The description, answers and references you submit while building go to the model provider you connect. Hatch stores model keys in the operating system credential store.

Q: Can I open an app someone sent me?

Yes. A small cross-platform .hatchapp file opens in Hatch and is reviewed before installation. Hatch can also export a larger standalone ZIP that runs without Hatch on the same operating system and CPU architecture as the sender.

Hatch turns the way your business works into a desktop app that fits. Describe the job, answer a few questions, and Hatch plans, builds, checks and installs it on your computer. A small app can take about 10 minutes and twenty cents in model costs; larger scopes take longer and cost more. No coding or Hatch account. Finished apps keep their data locally and run offline unless you give them AI.

Download Hatch How it works

Free · AGPL-3.0 · Windows, macOS, Linux · Bring your own model key or use a local model

Measured small app: ~$0.20; once, paid to your model provider
Measured build time: ~1 min; larger scopes can take hours
Subscription: None; there is nothing to cancel
Hatch account: None; no Hatch sign-up, login or cloud

The Hatch window. A project called Reading Log has finished building and been signed off; a card marked “Approved by you” reads “Reading Log is polished”, with an Open app button, a note that a shortcut was added to the desktop, and Share and Change something buttons. The bottom of the window shows the running cost: about $0.16 so far.

01The problem

Your business is renting software that almost fits.

Most business software is built for an average customer. You get someone else's fields, terminology and workflow, then keep the parts that do not fit in spreadsheets, notes and extra steps. Hatch builds the smaller tool around the job as you actually do it. A tracker. A roster. A quote calculator using your own rules.

Tools this simple still cost nine dollars a month forever, with an account, a cloud, a privacy policy, an onboarding tour and a redesign you didn't ask for — even when you use only a corner of what you are renting.

The strange part is how small the job often is. The measured app on this page went from the first question to a desktop shortcut in about a minute and cost sixteen cents in model usage.

Your subscriptions Count them up

Small software subscriptions you pay for Average per month

Every year$576

Over five years$2,880

Those 4 apps, hatched$0.80

At the measured small-app rate, paid once to your model provider — not to us.

02How it works

Four steps. You explain the work; Hatch handles the code.

01
Say what you want

One sentence is enough. “A quote builder for my cleaning business, with prices based on property size, frequency and extras.” Attach a screenshot or a photo of a sketch if you have one.
02
Answer a few questions

Only what genuinely changes the app — your fields, terms, calculations and workflow — one question at a time. No opinion? Press You decide and it explains what it chose.
03
Look at the plan

Before a line of code exists you get the app described in plain words, with a sketch of the main screen. Change anything. Then press Build it.
04
It's on your desktop

For a small app, about 10 minutes later there is a shortcut with its own icon. Double-click it. Want it different? Open the chat back up and say so.

The clarifying deck in Hatch: question 2 of 4 reads “Do they all need water on the same schedule?” with two options, a You decide row showing the suggestion, a free-text box, and Back / Next buttons. — Questions, one at a time

A Hatch blueprint: a “How it flows” card naming the app's one main screen, then a drawn layout preview of the Plant Waterer window showing a list of plants beside a selected-plant panel, and a Plan ready bar with an amber Build it button. — The plan, before any code

And in between, without being asked:

  describe → clarify → blueprint → [approve] → build → ready
                                                 │
                        ┌────────────────────────┘
                        ▼
     codegen → static checks → smoke launch → install
                    │              │
                    └──── repair ──┘   (≤3, escalating)

Every build is scanned for anything it shouldn't be doing and launched in a hidden window to check it actually runs. If it doesn't, Hatch fixes it and tries again. After three failed repairs it stops and tells you plainly, instead of installing something broken.

03What it costs

Here is a real one.

Not an estimate. This is the running total from the app in the screenshots above, from the first question to the shortcut on the desktop, on the Balanced preset.

Itemised cost of building one app on the Balanced preset
Reading Log · balanced	USD
Understanding what you want	0.02
Writing the plan	0.07
Building and checking it	0.07

Total, paid once $0.16

Running a model on your own computer $0.00

That's the middle setting

Balanced uses strong models for the plan, full build and final review, with mid-tier models for questions and repairs. Cheapest costs less than this. Best keeps strong models on every stage and costs more.

Or nothing at all

Hatch checks for Ollama, LM Studio and llama.cpp when it starts. If one is running, that is a one-click connection with no per-build model charge.

Hatch takes none of it

No subscription, no per-app fee, no seat, no Hatch account, no upsell. Your key stays in your operating system's credential store and requests go from your computer straight to your provider.

04Built for your work. Owned by you.

Hatch account: None. Hatch has no sign-up, login or server account.
Your app data: Saved to your own disk. Records kept inside the finished app are not uploaded, synced, backed up or analysed by Hatch.
Offline: Building needs a model. A finished app needs no internet unless you give it the optional AI capability.
Where it lives: A real desktop shortcut with its own icon, beside everything else you own.
Licence: AGPL-3.0, and free to stay free. Use it for anything, at home or at work.
Selling what you build: Apps are free to build, use and give away. Selling one — a price, a fee or a subscription — needs a commercial agreement.
Platforms: Windows, macOS and Linux — and the apps you build run on all three.

A finished app built by Hatch: a Book Club window with summary tiles for books read, this month, average rating and pages, a table of titles with star ratings, and a bar chart of books finished each month. — A finished app. Its fields, workflow and look come from the person who asked for it. Hatch's own look is deliberately kept out — these are your apps, not a feature of ours.

05The engine

Bring your own model.

Hatch doesn't sell you tokens and doesn't mark them up. Connect Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter with a key you already have — or point it at an OpenAI-compatible model running on your own machine and pay nothing at all.

Three presets cover most people: Cheapest, Balanced, Best. Or hand each job to a different model — plan and build with high-capability models, then use a lower-cost model for focused repairs, mixing providers freely.

Anthropic · OpenAI · OpenRouter
Anything OpenAI-compatible
Presets for Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp and vLLM
Keys go to your OS credential store, never a file on disk

Hatch's settings panel listing connected cloud and local models, with a Cheapest, Balanced and Best selector and Balanced chosen.

Send one to someone

Export a small, cross-platform .hatchapp file for someone who has Hatch, or a larger standalone ZIP for someone who does not. Hatch shows the author and requested permissions before importing a .hatchapp, then applies the same inspection as a fresh build. Standalone exports work only on the sender's operating system and CPU type.

They'll need Hatch too. Hatch is free.

Generated apps are contained by default

Apps open in a sandboxed window with no Node, no filesystem, no shell, and a content policy that blocks every outside connection. They can reach exactly one thing: a small toolkit for saving data, opening files you pick, and formatting dates.

Everything else isn't so much forbidden as absent.

07Small tools measured at about twenty cents

Reading Logwhat the book club has read, and what is next$0.16
Quote Builderprice jobs using your services, rates and extras~$0.20
Job Trackerevery job in the stages and terms your business uses~$0.20
Receipt Sorterdrop receipts in, get them back by month and category~$0.20
Invoice Timerhours by client, out as a spreadsheet at month end~$0.20
Shift Rosterwho is on this week, printed for the back office wall~$0.20

Small, focused and specific to the way you work — too specific for mass-market software, exactly specific enough for your business. Only the first is a measured build; the rest are apps of the same size.

08Questions

What is Hatch?

Hatch is a free, AGPL-licensed AI builder for small desktop apps tailored to the way you work. Describe a focused business or personal workflow in everyday language, approve a plain-language plan, and Hatch builds a local app for Windows, macOS or Linux. It is free to use for anything, at home or at work — only selling an app you built with it needs a commercial agreement.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. You explain the work in ordinary language: the information you keep, the steps you follow and what the app should produce. Hatch does not ask you to write or edit code.

So what am I actually paying, and to whom?

Hatch is free and AGPL-licensed. You pay a model provider directly for the tokens your builds use. The small Balanced example shown here cost sixteen cents; larger scopes and stronger models cost more. A local model has no per-build provider fee. Hatch takes no cut of the work you do with it — the one exception is selling an app you built, which needs a commercial agreement.

Do I need an API key?

Yes, unless you're running a model locally. Settings walks you through connecting Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter, or adding an OpenAI-compatible endpoint. It includes local presets for Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp and vLLM; local generation has no per-build model fee.

Where does my data go?

Your apps' saved data never leaves your computer — there is no Hatch server for it to go to. The build material you submit in chat — your description, answers and any references you attach — goes to the model provider you connected, the same way it would if you used their app directly.

What can't it build?

Anything that needs to be on the internet: websites, servers, phone apps, or something that has to talk to a service. Hatch is best for focused, self-contained tools — trackers, calculators, registers, forms and rosters that keep their own data. If you ask for something out of reach it tells you during the questions and offers the nearest thing that does work.

What if it builds the wrong thing?

Tell it what to change and it rebuilds — that path is cheaper than the first build, because it only touches what moved. Every build is kept as a version, so you can go back to any earlier one at any time.

Can I open an app someone sent me?

Yes. A .hatchapp file is small and cross-platform; open it in Hatch to review its author and permissions before installation. A standalone ZIP needs no Hatch installation, but only works on the same operating system and CPU architecture it was exported from.

Why does Windows warn me when I install it?

Because the builds aren't code-signed yet — certificates are on the list before a wide release. Until then SmartScreen will show its “unrecognised app” notice, and you'll need More info → Run anyway. Worth knowing rather than being surprised by.

Which computers does it run on?

Windows, macOS and Linux. A .hatchapp package is cross-platform when opened in Hatch. Standalone ZIP exports are tied to the operating system and CPU architecture used to create them.

Can I sell the apps I build?

Use them for anything, free — at home, across a whole company, or for a client who is paying you for your time. Give them away as often as you like. What needs a commercial agreement is putting a price on the app itself: selling it, licensing it for a fee, or charging a subscription for it.

The reason is that every app carries a small piece of Hatch inside it — the runtime it draws its interface with. Everything else is yours: the code Hatch wrote for you, your data, your name and your branding. Write to nenadspp@gmail.com if you want to sell one.

Ready when you are

Replace one awkward workaround tonight.

Tailor-made to the way you work. A small one can take about 10 minutes and about twenty cents. If it comes out wrong, tell it what to change.

Download Hatch

Windows · macOS · Linux — free, AGPL-licensed

Your business. Your app. Another monthly fee.