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Introduction

What is Overseer and why it matters for AI operations.

Overseer is a local-first desktop AI orchestration platform that lets you build, supervise, and automate AI systems with full visibility and control.

What is Overseer?

Unlike simple AI chatbots or basic agent runners, Overseer provides a complete orchestration layer for AI operations. You can design complex workflows, assign supervisors for quality control, configure planners for task decomposition, and inspect every execution trace.

Think of it as mission control for your AI operations: the place where routing, supervision, tool execution, workflows, and evidence all stay visible instead of disappearing behind a black box.

Key Features

Agents - Configure AI agents with specific models, system prompts, and capabilities
Supervisors - Add oversight layers with approval gates and quality checks
Planners - Decompose complex tasks into manageable subtasks
Tools - Built-in and custom tools for agents to use
Workflows - Visual multi-step execution flows
Execution Traces - Full visibility into every step

Mission Control Philosophy

Overseer is designed for operators who need visibility into their AI systems. Every operation is traceable, every decision is logged, and every output can be reviewed.

Local-First Architecture

Overseer runs entirely on your desktop. Your agent configurations, workflow definitions, and execution traces never leave your machine unless you explicitly choose to share them.

Terminal

# Start the desktop app from the project repo
.\run_overseer_desktop.bat

# Or if you are working from source
cargo check --features desktop
dx serve

Note

Overseer is local-first, but model providers and tool runtimes still depend on your own setup. For local models, keep Ollama running before you start a chat or workflow run.

Next Steps

Ready to get started? Here's what we recommend:

Install Overseer on your system
Complete the Quickstart guide
Explore Agents to build your first AI agent