Chatbox AI Complete Guide: Minimal Desktop Unified Calling — Local + Cloud One-Click

TL;DR: Chatbox AI is a minimal cross-platform desktop AI client (Electron) that pools Ollama local models with cloud OpenAI/Claude/Gemini/DeepSeek/Groq in one clean UI — one-click model switch, Markdown/code highlight, local storage.

Why Chatbox AI?

• Minimal desktop: open and chat, Windows/macOS/Linux.
• Local + cloud: Ollama + cloud APIs in one dropdown.
• Privacy: chats stay local.
• Dev-friendly: Markdown, code highlight, LaTeX.
• Lightweight: <100MB, fast launch.

Setup

Download from https://chatboxai.app or GitHub Bin-Huang/chatbox. Settings → Provider → Add → pick OpenAI/DeepSeek/Groq/OpenRouter/Ollama → paste Key + Base URL.

Ollama: http://localhost:11434, model qwen3:8b
OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1, key sk-or-v1-xxx

Tip: point cloud Base URL to OneAPI http://localhost:3000/v1 for one-key multi-model.

Unified Calling

• Privacy tiering: sensitive → local 8B; general → cloud flagship.
• Compare: same prompt to local vs cloud.

vs Others

Best Practices

• Default local 8B, escalate to cloud.
• Point cloud Base URL to OneAPI.

Summary

• Minimal desktop: open and chat.
• Local + cloud: one list.
• Gateway link: Base URL → OneAPI mymodel.

🚀 Get Started: One-Click Free API Access

Want to call all the free models above with a single API key, no need to sign up for each provider? Apishare.cc provides a unified API Key — one key, 100+ models, free models at zero cost.

👉 Register on Apishare.cc → Get your unified API Key

📊 Want to see more free model rankings? Check out the Sep 2026 Free LLM API Rankings →

About the Free API Aggregator

The models covered in this guide are all served through the APIShare free API aggregator, which gives you one key for the whole catalog.

• Full model catalog: APIShare free API directory
• Sign up for a free trial key: Register and claim your API key