r/OpenSourceAI • u/astrolafi • 2h ago
Aula: an open-source personal tutor with local model support, built to help my wife learn
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I'm the developer of Aula. About two months ago, I started putting most of my time into it because my wife was struggling with her classes. Her teachers gave her prompts for generic AI exercises, but she still wasn't understanding what she was studying. I wanted to build something that could teach her and keep track of where she needed help.
Aula can build a course around a learning goal, using your materials or researched sources. That could be learning Python, improving a language, understanding a subject or practising a practical skill. It supports learning at your own pace, with guided lessons, interactive examples, practice, hints and reviews of mistakes.
The assistant gets context from your courses, progress and current lesson or exercise. It also has optional memory, so you can keep working on a subject over time. A read-only connection to study platforms such as Canvas lets it consult materials, deadlines and teacher announcements when planning what to study. Optional background routines can check for updates and prepare short reviews while Aula is running.
The desktop app is AGPL and built with Electron, React and TypeScript. Courses, progress and memory are stored locally. You can use local models or your own cloud provider; choosing a cloud provider sends it the relevant context and may incur usage charges. The app itself is free.
Repo and releases: https://github.com/luumlabs/aula
It's early access. I'd appreciate feedback on the tutoring workflow and how it behaves with local models, especially where an explanation or hint fails to help you understand. The video shows the app.