Your AI helper,
right on your screen.

No. Click the lantern and say what you need in your own words, like “my Wi‑Fi keeps dropping” or “make this video smaller.” Lantern answers, or starts an AI helper that does the steps for you and tells you when it’s done.

Only what you ask for. When you hand it a task, you get 3 seconds to cancel before it starts, and you can stop it any time. Once it’s going, it works through the steps without stopping to ask, so it can finish while you do something else. If you’d rather approve each step, turn on Ask before agents act in Settings. Anything that needs your password still shows your computer’s own prompt.

No. Lantern brings its own AI, so there’s nothing else to set up. If you already pay for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok, Lantern uses that first.

An AI friend that lives on your screen, from October. Click the little lantern at the edge of your screen and ask anything, or say what you need done, and it does it for you. Free for Mac, and for Windows as a preview.

October. We build tools for working with AI agents: October Desktop, a workspace for teams of agents; Harness, an open-source coding agent; Agent Intercom, which lets agents work together; Octo, a friendly helper for your family’s computers; and Moirai, which moves a saved agent session to another tool. Lantern is the smallest of them.

Mac: download the Mac app, open the DMG, and drag Lantern into Applications. Then open Lantern. The download is about 15 MB.

Windows (preview): download the installer (about 17 MB) and run October-Lantern-windows-x86_64-setup.exe, then find October Lantern in the Start menu. No administrator rights needed. Windows may show “Windows protected your PC”: click More info, then Run anyway. (We’re adding code signing soon.) Uninstall from Settings › Apps, or from Lantern’s own Settings › About.

Apple silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) as a preview.

Yes on Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), as a preview: the same lantern and panel as on the Mac. Linux builds from source for now.

No. Your files and chats stay on your computer. When you ask a question, your question (and what you pointed at, if anything) goes to October’s AI to be answered; October doesn’t keep it. Lantern sends anonymous usage counts (which features are used, never what you ask or type), and you can turn them off in Settings. Your voice is turned into text on your computer, and Lantern only listens while the mic is on.

Only what a feature needs, when you first use it. On a Mac: Screen Recording so it can see what you point at, Accessibility so its helpers can use your apps for you, the Microphone if you talk to it, and Notifications if you want them. Lantern doesn’t need Full Disk Access.

Yes. The app and its engine are on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. Builds you make from source send no usage counts.

Start the trial with a card. For 3 days you get Lantern’s paid features: Ask Lantern on your own OpenAI, Anthropic or OpenRouter key, up to 20 questions a day on October’s AI, and your iPhone (beta). Then October Pro is $9.99 for your first month and $20/month after, and the full Pro allowances start with that first payment. Cancel anytime in the billing portal, from your October account. The yearly plan ($200 a year) has no trial.

Lantern Lifetime is paid once. It includes Ask Lantern on your own OpenAI, Anthropic or OpenRouter key with no daily limit, up to 20 questions a day on October’s AI, your iPhone (beta), Show me how, and every Lantern app update. It doesn’t include October’s cloud. It’s $149 for the first 100 seats, $199 for the next 100 and $249 for the last 100. Changed your mind? Email hey@october.dev within 14 days for a full refund.

The Lantern app is free. Answers and jobs need a free October account, which includes 5 questions a day. October Pro and Max give you more, and stronger answers.