Open-source, self-hosted privacy layer for GPT-style applications, separating users from LLM providers to reduce identity and metadata exposure.
Quieter.ai is a reference implementation of a privacy boundary between users (or applications) and large language model providers such as Anthropic or OpenAI.
It allows people to benefit from modern language models while reducing how much identity, network, and sensitive metadata is exposed upstream.
Users talk to their app.
The app talks to Quieter.
The model provider never sees the user.
- Proxies GPT-style requests through a Quieter deployment acting as a privacy boundary
- Shields end-user IP address, cookies, and browser/session metadata
- Optionally scrubs obvious identifiers from prompt content
- Returns model responses without breaking normal workflows
- Supports per-tenant and per-user access keys
- Tracks usage and local privacy-related metrics per account or tenant
Model providers see the Quieter instance as the caller, not the originating user or network.
Quieter.ai is designed to be self-hosted.
When you deploy this software:
- You operate your own infrastructure
- You supply your own LLM provider API keys
- You run your own database
- You are responsible for user data, logs, traffic, and compliance
The maintainers do not operate a shared proxy, relay, or traffic service for third-party deployments.
Any hosted instance operated by the maintainer (now or in the future) is separate from the open-source project and governed by its own terms.
Quieter.ai is intentionally scoped. It does not:
- Guarantee anonymity or unlinkability
- Defeat browser fingerprinting
- Protect compromised endpoints or malicious extensions
- Prevent deanonymization via prompt content itself
- Provide legal, medical, or regulatory compliance guarantees
Quieter.ai is a privacy-enhancing measure, not a silver bullet.
In scope:
- Preventing direct association of prompts with user IP or network
- Avoiding upstream exposure of cookies, sessions, and browser identity
- Reducing accidental leakage of obvious identifiers
Out of scope:
- Adversarial browsers or operating systems
- Active fingerprinting techniques
- Targeted or state-level deanonymization
- User self-identification through prompt content
- Privacy-conscious individuals using GPT or Claude-style interfaces
- Journaling, wellness, and reflective writing tools
- Education and research workflows
- Enterprise internal assistants
- Developers who need a clean privacy boundary without reinventing one
The extension currently targets Claude.ai only. Other providers (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) are not yet supported but can be added later.
The extension supports two modes on Claude.ai:
- Use Quieter (header button): injected into the Claude.ai header when the user is logged into Claude and the extension is enabled. It opens a modal to send a prompt through Quieter and view the response. You can copy the response to clipboard. The modal also lets you choose scrub mode and a model family.
- Rewrite mode (optional): intercepts Claude’s send events and routes the prompt to Quieter instead of Claude’s backend. This updates your Quieter usage and keeps the request behind the privacy shield.
Rewrite mode is controlled from the extension popup and is off by default.
If you want to use Quieter without Claude, the hosted site includes a simple web prompt page:
- Log in, then open Use Quieter from the navbar.
- Paste your
qtr_...API key (stored locally if you choose). - Pick scrub mode and model family, then send a prompt directly to
/query.
Quieter.ai does not collect centralized usage data by default.
Each deployment operates independently, and all usage metrics are local to that instance unless the operator explicitly opts in to sharing anonymous telemetry.
Operators may choose to enable anonymized, instance-level telemetry to help support the project and guide future development.
When enabled:
- Telemetry is off by default and requires explicit configuration
- Telemetry is instance-level only, not per user or per tenant
- Telemetry is anonymous
- Telemetry is sent on a coarse interval (e.g. once per day)
- Telemetry failures never affect request handling
Telemetry never includes:
- Prompt content (raw or transformed)
- User identifiers
- Tenant identifiers
- API keys or secrets
- IP addresses or request metadata
Typical telemetry data may include:
- A randomly generated instance identifier
- Quieter version
- Aggregate request counts
- Whether optional privacy features are enabled
Telemetry can be enabled or disabled at any time by the operator and is fully inspectable in the source code.
The Quieter Shield is the proxy boundary: your prompts route through Quieter so the model provider sees Quieter, not your device. You can use it via the browser extension (Claude.ai) or the Use Quieter page.
Quieter tracks usage by Quieter account + API key:
- Anthropic API key powers the Quieter server and is not tied to a user.
- Quieter API key (
qtr_...) maps usage to a specific Quieter account/tenant. - Claude login is separate and does not affect Quieter usage tracking.
If usage doesn’t appear in the dashboard, make sure you’re logged into the Quieter account that
owns the qtr_... key you used.
/query uses a simple model router. You can force a default model for model=auto by setting:
QUIETER_DEFAULT_MODEL_ID=anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latestIf unset, Quieter selects the cheapest enabled model in model_configs.
Instead of hard-coding a specific model ID, you can request a model family:
haiku,sonnet, oropus
Quieter will select the best enabled model that matches the family. If a model is missing or sunset, you can enable a fallback option to try the next available model.
- API: push to the tracked branch; Railway will redeploy.
- Railway env vars: ensure
DATABASE_URL,ANTHROPIC_API_KEY,CORS_ORIGIN, andQUIETER_DEFAULT_MODEL_IDare set. - Migrations: run
cd api && npm run migratewhenever new migrations are added. - Extension: reload the unpacked extension in
chrome://extensions, or re-pack and publish if distributing.
- Open by default — source is available for inspection and audit
- Opinionated but minimal — fewer guarantees, clearer boundaries
- Maintained, not promised — best-effort upkeep without SLAs
This project exists because the tool should exist — not to become a comprehensive privacy management platform.
The long-term direction of Quieter.ai is outlined in ROADMAP.md.
Quieter.ai is open source software released under the Apache License 2.0.
If you deploy or redistribute Quieter.ai and are able to do so, we ask that you include a small attribution such as:
-
Text:
Powered by Quieter.ai — https://quieter.ai
-
Badge:
[](https://quieter.ai)