Why not just use print() or logging?

Logging shows fragments. Tether connects the prompt, action, file diff, command output, failed test, and recovery point in one local execution graph.

Can I use this with production code?

Yes. It's a local proxy, so your real code doesn't change. Use it locally for debugging, or keep it running. Tether only stores traces locally and never sends anything anywhere.

How much money does caching actually save?

It depends on your agent. If you're iterating on prompt logic and re-running the same retrieval steps, caching saves you 50-90% of API spend while you debug. Each cached hit costs $0.0000.

Does Tether add latency to my agent?

Negligible. Tether runs locally on your machine. The only overhead is the proxy hop, which is less than 1ms. Real LLM calls are the bottleneck, not Tether.

Can I share traces with my team?

Not yet. Each developer runs their own Tether instance locally. Export as JSON is coming in a later release.

How does Tether intercept LLM calls without SDK changes?

Tether runs a local HTTP proxy on your machine. You point your AI client's base_url at http://localhost:8080/v1 — that's the only change required. Tether forwards requests to the real provider and records everything locally.

Does Tether send my prompts or API keys to the cloud?

No. Tether is fully air-gapped. Your prompts and responses stay on your machine. macOS secrets use Keychain-aware storage, Linux uses the same local proxy model, and traces stay local.

Which LLM providers does Tether support?

Tether supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, LM Studio, and any provider that accepts an OpenAI-compatible base_url. It also works with LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, and similar frameworks.

Yes. Tether is free during the alpha period. The core proxy is open source.

Home/Docs/Install

Getting Started

Install

Install the macOS or Linux desktop app from the terminal, verify the local system, and keep developer builds separate from release installs.

Install Setup steps

Release: Alpha channel
Runtime: macOS + Linux + local proxy
Docs: 19 guides

Terminal installer

bash

curl -fsSL https://tetherapp.vercel.app/install.sh | bash

Detects macOS or Linux and the machine architecture.
Checks required system tools before changing anything.
Downloads the matching release artifact from GitHub Releases.
Installs or replaces the macOS app at /Applications/Tether.app, using sudo when needed, or installs the Linux package or AppImage path.
Installs the tether CLI with help, update, uninstall, version, doctor, and open commands.
Use --dry-run to inspect the plan or --yes for non-interactive Linux package installation.

Installed CLI

bash

tether help
tether doctor
tether open
tether update
tether uninstall
tether uninstall --purge

tether update closes the desktop app if it is running, replaces /Applications/Tether.app with the newest macOS release, reopens it when it was open before the update, and shows a desktop notification when the update succeeds. The macOS app exposes the same update path through an Update Tether confirmation window that opens Terminal before running the command. tether uninstall keeps local traces and settings unless --purge is passed.

Local developer setup

bash

cd core/proxy
cargo build
cd ../../apps/web
npm install
npm run dev

The web app is the public site and documentation surface. The macOS app lives under apps/macos/, the Linux app lives under apps/linux/, and the proxy binary is built from core/proxy/.

Package desktop builds

bash

./scripts/package-dmg.sh

Builds the Rust proxy helper in release mode.
Builds the Tether Xcode scheme.
Copies tether-proxy into Tether.app/Contents/Helpers.
Creates dist/Tether.dmg and mirrors it into apps/web/public/downloads/.
Use scripts/package-linux.sh for Linux AppImage and deb packaging.