Introduction
Growther.ai C5 is an AI agent platform that runs on your own computer.
An agent is an AI helper that can do real work for you. It does not just answer questions. It can plan a job, break it into steps, use tools, and keep going until the work is done. C5 lets you run a whole team of these agents at once.
C5 ships as one file. You download it and run it. There is nothing else to install — no Node, no Docker, no long list of parts to set up first.
What you can do with C5 #
- Give it real work. Ask for a task in plain words. C5 makes a plan, splits the work up, and gets it done.
- Run many agents at once. Instead of one helper working alone, you get a team working side by side.
- Watch everything. Charts and dashboards show you what your agents are doing, why they are doing it, and what it costs.
- Set the rules. You decide which tools your agents may use and when they must stop and ask you first.
- Keep it private. Your work stays on your machine, stored encrypted — see Local encryption for what that does and does not cover.
Who C5 is for #
C5 is built for people who want AI to finish work, not just talk about it. That includes developers, analysts, writers, researchers, and small teams who want their own private setup instead of someone else's cloud.
You do not need to be an expert to start. The first task you run can be as simple as a sentence.
Progress you can see #
Using C5 is designed to feel rewarding. As you and your agents complete real work, C5 tracks your progress and marks each milestone with an achievement star in your sidebar.
Most of them unlock something new — deep analysis on failed jobs at 50 tasks, automated prompt improvements at 100. The gold star is different: it arrives once recipes have planned 25 of your tasks, and unlocks nothing at all. It marks the point where C5 has watched those recipes long enough to tell you which ones actually helped. See Self-improvement milestones.
Your data stays yours #
Everything C5 knows lives in a folder on your computer called ~/.growther. It is
encrypted, which means the files are scrambled and unreadable without your key. Your
prompts, your files, and your API keys never have to leave your machine.
If you ever want your data out, you can unlock and export it with one click. You own it.
C5 and Mothership #
C5 works completely on its own. You never have to connect it to anything.
Mothership is the Growther.ai cloud. It is optional. Connecting to it lets your setup learn from what works well across the whole Growther community, and gives you shared dashboards and managed updates. You can read more in Mothership.
Where to go next #
- Installation — get C5 on your computer.
- Quickstart — run your first task in a few minutes.
- Tour of C5 — see what each part of the app does.