Alberta – AI email search that runs locally with privacy-first design

Summary: Alberta is a local-first email search and Q&A app that syncs IMAP accounts and indexes emails locally using DuckDB and FAISS. It runs the LLM via Ollama to keep data off the cloud, enabling hybrid search with BM25 and vector methods, reranking, and verification for accurate, grounded answers.

What it does

Alberta syncs IMAP accounts, indexes emails locally, and uses a hybrid search combining BM25 and vector retrieval with reranking and verification. It allows users to search and chat with their emails while running the LLM locally through Ollama.

Who it's for

It is designed for users who want fast, private email search and Q&A across multiple IMAP accounts without cloud exposure.

Why it matters

Alberta solves privacy concerns by keeping email data local while providing accurate, grounded search and answers with low latency.