An air-gapped AI knowledge base runs entirely inside an isolated network: the documents, the search index and the AI model all stay on local hardware, and updates arrive as checked offline packages. The trade-offs are model quality, hardware cost and update effort. Test with your own documents before deciding.
How it works
- Capture or import documents, notes and records inside the network.
- Process locally: text recognition for scans, indexing, and AI extraction or embedding on local hardware.
- Answer questions with a local model, citing sources.
- Control access through the organization's identity system.
- Audit every query and change.
What to check
| Area | Question |
|---|---|
| Models | Which model runs locally? How does it perform on our documents and languages? |
| Hardware | What CPU, GPU and memory are needed per user or per server? |
| Updates | How are software and model updates delivered offline? |
| Outbound calls | Can the vendor show that nothing tries to call out? |
| Access | Record-level permissions and single sign-on? |
| Audit | Is the log tamper-evident? |
| Export | Can we take our data out in open formats? |
Options
- Open-source search such as Onyx can be self-hosted and run air-gapped with local models (GitHub).
- Organizational memory such as Reattend can run on your own server, with capture on each computer, models and updates from your server's mirror, and only derived knowledge shared inside the network; fully air-gapped rollouts are scoped per engagement.
Trade-offs to accept
- Local models may be less capable than the largest cloud models.
- Someone must run the hardware and apply updates.
- New features arrive more slowly.
For most sensitive organizations those trade-offs are worth it. For more, see on-premise knowledge management for government.
Frequently asked questions
What is an air-gapped AI system?
An AI system that runs on a network physically or logically isolated from the internet. Models, data and processing all stay inside the isolated network.
Can large language models run air-gapped?
Yes. Open-weight and vendor-supplied models can run on local hardware. Smaller models need less hardware but may be less capable, so test with your own data.
How are air-gapped systems updated?
Through offline update packages that are checked and transferred into the network under the organization's security process.