π Local-First AI β’ π€ Community-Powered β’ π‘οΈ Resilient by Design β’ β‘ Offline-Capable
--- ## π¨ The Problem Today's AI depends on centralized cloud infrastructure. When the internet goes down, so does access to: * π€ AI assistants * π Knowledge bases * π¬ Communication platforms * π Marketplaces * πΊοΈ Navigation and local information Whether caused by outages, disasters, censorship, infrastructure failures, or simply poor connectivity, modern communities become digitally isolated almost instantly. What if AI could continue working anyway? --- # π₯ Introducing HearthNet **HearthNet** transforms the computers already around you into a resilient local AI network. Your gaming PC. Your neighbor's old laptop. A Raspberry Pi in a community center. An unused workstation in a local business. Together, they become a shared AI cooperative. No centralized server required. No cloud dependency required. No single point of failure. --- ## π¬ Imagine This Scenario A storm damages the internet connection for an entire neighborhood. Most online services become unavailable. With HearthNet: β AI assistants still answer questions β Local document search continues working β Emergency information remains available β Community chat stays online β Local marketplaces continue operating β Knowledge remains accessible The internet disappears. The community does not. --- # β‘ Key Features ## π€ Distributed AI Inference Every node advertises its capabilities. A gaming PC might offer: * Large Language Models * Vision Models * Embeddings A Raspberry Pi might offer: * Message relaying * Local storage * Discovery services Requests are automatically routed to the most suitable node. --- ## π Local Knowledge (RAG) HearthNet can host community knowledge libraries including: * First aid manuals * Emergency procedures * Community resources * Local guides * Educational content Even completely offline. --- ## π Automatic Discovery No manual configuration. No IP addresses. No complex setup. Open HearthNet and nearby nodes automatically discover each other. --- ## π‘οΈ Internet-Outage Resilience When the internet is available: ```text Community β Internet β Cloud Services ``` When the internet disappears: ```text Community β Community β Community ``` HearthNet automatically switches to local-first operation. --- ## π¬ Local Community Communication Communities can communicate directly through: * Chat * Announcements * Local messaging * Shared information boards No external servers required. --- ## π Community Marketplace Buy. Sell. Trade. Share resources. Even during connectivity disruptions. --- # ποΈ Architecture ```text βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β Frontend β βββββββββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββ β βΌ βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β Capability Bus β βββββββββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββ β ββββββββββββΌβββββββββββ βΌ βΌ βΌ ββββββββββ ββββββββββ ββββββββββ β LLM β β RAG β β Chat β β Node β β Node β β Node β ββββββββββ ββββββββββ ββββββββββ β² β² β² ββββββββββ ββββββββββ ββββββββββ βLaptop Aβ βLaptop Bβ βPi Zero β ββββββββββ ββββββββββ ββββββββββ ``` --- # π Hackathon Goals Our hackathon MVP demonstrates: ### Phase 1 * [x] Node discovery * [x] Capability registration * [x] Local AI inference * [x] Knowledge retrieval * [x] Offline operation ### Phase 2 * [ ] Local marketplace * [ ] Community messaging * [ ] Health monitoring * [ ] Distributed storage ### Phase 3 * [ ] Long-distance mesh networking * [ ] Federated communities * [ ] Distributed inference * [ ] Federated learning --- # π§ Why This Matters AI is rapidly becoming essential infrastructure. Today, that infrastructure is mostly controlled by a handful of organizations. HearthNet explores a different future: A future where communities own and operate AI together. A future where knowledge remains available during outages. A future where local resilience is built directly into our digital systems. --- # π Potential Use Cases ## π Emergency Response Access critical information when external services are unavailable. --- ## π« Schools Run local educational AI systems without constant cloud access. --- ## πΎ Rural Communities Provide AI services in areas with limited connectivity. --- ## πͺ Events & Festivals Create temporary local AI networks for attendees. --- ## ποΈ Neighborhoods Community knowledge sharing and local services. --- # π οΈ Technology Stack ### AI * llama.cpp * Ollama * Hugging Face Models * Sentence Transformers ### Backend * Python * FastAPI * WebSockets ### Knowledge Layer * ChromaDB * FAISS * Local Embeddings ### Infrastructure * Docker * Docker Compose ### Frontend * Gradio / Web UI --- # π₯ Team Built during the Hugging Face Hackathon β€οΈ We believe that the future of AI should be: β Open β Local β Resilient β Community-Owned --- # π€ Join Us We're actively looking for: * AI Engineers * Distributed Systems Developers * Frontend Developers * DevOps Engineers * Designers * Community Builders Ideas, feedback, contributions, and discussions are always welcome. --- # π Vision > "The cloud owns AI today. > > HearthNet is our bet that communities will own it tomorrow." ---Built with β€οΈ, β, open source, and a slightly unreasonable belief that neighborhoods should have their own AI.