Kite

A keyboard-first email client that turns kinds of email into small tools

Role

Designer & developer

Timeline

2026

A fast, local-first desktop email client that turns kinds of email into small tools. Sign-in codes pop up the moment they arrive, ready to copy without opening your inbox; PDFs are filled and signed right in the app; trackers pull amounts, renewals, flights and deliveries out of your mail; and every action has a shortcut. Mail lives in on-device SQLite, and AI is optional and bring-your-own.

Mail in on-device SQLite: Local-first; Mail in on-device SQLite
Rebindable shortcuts: 48; Rebindable shortcuts
Sign-in codes as they land: Instant; Sign-in codes as they land
Optional, never required: BYO AI; Optional, never required

The problem

Email clients treat every message the same: a wall of threads to read, archive and forget. Yet much of an inbox is really data (receipts, bills, renewals, bookings, deliveries), and the rest is conversations buried under quotes and signatures. The usual answer is a cloud AI that reads all of it.

The response

Kite keeps a full local copy of your mail, so lists and search never wait on the network. Trackers match kinds of email with typed rules and extract the fields that matter on the device. Conversations fold quotes and signatures, switch to a chat view, group file versions and show who you're talking to. A Screener holds first-time senders, tracking pixels are blocked, and everything is driven from the keyboard. It ships as a Tauri desktop app with its own bundled server.

// guided product tour

See Kite move at the speed of your keyboard.

Four short walkthroughs on Kite's demo mailbox: triage without the mouse, mail that becomes data, conversations you can actually read, and the privacy tools that keep an inbox calm.

Step 01

Triage at keyboard speed

Move through mail with j and k, switch tabs, bulk-select, archive with Undo, and reply with formatting and a send-later reminder.

0:24

Step 02

Mail that becomes data

Trackers pull the amount, merchant, renewal date, flight or due date out of each email, on the device, with Fix fields when they get it wrong.

0:22

Step 03

Conversations, people and files

Chat view, a People panel with VIPs and private notes, grouped file versions, and every attachment in one searchable place.

0:22

Step 04

A calmer, more private inbox

Screen first-time senders, see which trackers were blocked, flip to dark panes, and pin what matters from the command palette.

0:23

// scope

An email client that does the busywork.

Local-first sync

Gmail history sync into on-device SQLite with full-text search, offline reading, and a background engine for snoozes, scheduled sends and follow-ups.

Trackers

Money, Subscriptions, Travel, Packages, Bills and School trackers extract amounts, dates and references from mail, with corrections and a table view.

Instant sign-in codes

One-time codes and sign-in links pop up on the desktop the moment the email lands, with Copy and Open link, so you never leave the site that asked for them.

Fill & sign PDFs

Fill forms and place text, ticks, dates and your saved signature on any PDF attachment, then reply with the signed copy. It remembers layouts and can fill from your profile.

Keyboard first

Rebindable shortcuts for every action, a command palette, bulk selection, and Undo on every move.

Readable conversations

Chat view, folded quotes and signatures, local split and merge, file versions, and a People panel with VIPs and private notes.

Bring your own AI

Connect Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Groq or a local model in Ollama or LM Studio. It only ever sees the mail you send it, and everything still works without it.

Privacy and writing

A Screener for first-time senders, blocked tracking pixels, remote images off until asked, plus send later, undo send, follow-up reminders and designed emails.

// built with

Next.js 16
React 19
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS 4
Motion
Tauri 2
Rust
SQLite (FTS5)
Gmail API
pdf-lib
zod

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