Local & self-hosted appsHeidelberg AI (the curriculum.32dots.de team)
Heidelberg AI Desk
Decision matrix
Heidelberg AI Desk app decision matrix
Overview
Heidelberg AI Desk, made by the curriculum's own team, installs n8n, Gitea, Open WebUI and Ollama as apps on your own laptop and sets up Podman for you on Windows. Pick it for curriculum lessons and private trials. It is free, unsigned and an early test version (0.2.0-alpha.8) that nobody has tried with a class yet.
Other good fits
Trying a server tool in private before anyone asks for a server: accounts and data stay on your computer.
Giving every student in a course the same four tools at the same versions, plus the course's own apps from a shelf.
+ Pros
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Heidelberg AI Desk is a small program that installs and runs server tools as apps on your own computer. Each app runs in a container, a sealed copy of the program, and opens in your browser at an address that works on your computer only. Four apps are built in, each at a fixed version: n8n for automations, Gitea for files with a history, Open WebUI as a chat window, and Ollama, which runs the language models behind that chat. The curriculum's own team makes the Desk. Version 0.2.0-alpha.8 replaces the earlier, larger beta Desk.
On Windows the Desk has a window with two lists. The App Store shows every app the Desk knows, and Installed Apps shows what is on your computer. The Desk also sets up Podman for you there, the free program that runs the containers. Further apps come from a shelf, a list of app recipes that a course or a group shares at a web address.
Pick it when
You work through a curriculum lesson that needs n8n, Gitea, Open WebUI or Ollama and want it on your own laptop without learning containers first.
You want to try a server tool in private before anyone asks for a server: accounts and data stay on your computer.
You teach a course and want the same four tools at the same versions on every student's laptop, plus your course's own apps on a shelf.
− Cons
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The Desk is an early test version. The installer and each archive have been tried on one computer of its kind. The Desk's own pages list what nobody has tried yet: a class installing it together, a student who has never seen it, Windows 10, and a laptop with 8 GB of memory. On a Mac the window opened in a test, but nobody has worked with it there.
The programs are unsigned. Windows warns about an unknown publisher, and macOS may refuse to open the download at first. The source code isn't public, and the Desk has no open-source licence. The built-in update checks the new file against the size and checksum, a fingerprint of the file, that the Desk's website lists. That tells you the file is the one the website offers. It can't tell you who built it.
Everything stays on one computer. Each app answers only at a local address, so a colleague can't open your n8n, and a workflow runs only while your laptop and n8n are running. Ollama gets no graphics card inside its container and computes on the processor. On the Desk team's test laptop, the first answer from the 2 GB model took about a minute and a half.
If you still have the earlier beta Desk, use one Desk at a time. Both share one data folder.
Pick something else when
You only want to chat with a model on your own laptop: LM Studio is one program and needs no containers.
Colleagues must reach the app from their own computers, or a workflow must run while your laptop is shut: start with the cloud version of n8n, or put the app on a server with Dokploy.
An app needs a graphics card, a folder of your computer or a port open to the network: the Desk gives an app none of these, so run that app with Podman yourself.
Avoid if
Colleagues need to reach the app from their own computers, or it must keep running while your laptop is shut: each app answers on your computer only.
You have Windows on ARM or a Mac with an Intel processor (there is no download), or you want the window on Linux (command line only).
Workflow
Run the installer and leave "Set up Podman now" ticked → open the Desk and look for "Local apps can run" on the left → in the App Store, press Install and open on an app → use the app in your browser at its local address → later, on the app's card under Installed Apps, press Open or Stop; a stopped app also has Remove. Stopping or removing an app keeps its data and settings.
Cost
Read cost
Prices checked 12 October 2026: the Desk is free of charge, and so is Podman. Each app keeps its makers' licence. n8n's Sustainable Use License allows your own and internal use, Gitea and Ollama are MIT, and Open WebUI's own licence asks you to keep its name and logo. On first start n8n offers a licence key and a paid assistant; you can skip both.
You pay in disk space, memory and download time. The Desk itself is small: the Windows installer is 2.7 MB. The apps are the large part, and each one is downloaded the first time you start it. The Desk team measured these sizes on its Windows 11 test laptop with 16 GB of memory:
App
Fixed version
First download
n8n
2.40.7
1.2 GB
Gitea
1.27.3
0.2 GB
Open WebUI
0.11.4
5.6 GB
Ollama
0.40.2
4.7 GB, plus a model; the suggested first one is 2 GB
On that laptop, Podman used about 1.8 GB of memory with n8n, Gitea and one small app running. With Open WebUI, Ollama and the 2 GB model on top, it used 7.8 GB. A laptop with 8 GB of memory has not been tried.
The running effort is small, with three things to know:
Apps keep running when you close the window. Press Stop on a card to end one. After you sign in to Windows again, the Desk starts the apps that were running before.
Updates take one click. From this version on, the Desk says when a newer one is out and installs it when you press Update now; your apps keep running. An app's version is fixed per Desk, so a newer n8n arrives with a later Desk.
There is no backup command yet. Export what you want to keep from inside each app.
Restrictions
Platforms: Windows 11 on Intel or AMD gets the installer with the window. Apple Silicon Macs and Linux x64 get an archive, and you install Podman yourself; Linux is command line only. There is no download for Windows on ARM or for Intel Macs.
Trust: unsigned, source code not public, no open-source licence. On a laptop from an employer, ask IT first.
Reach and data: apps answer only at 127.0.0.1 on your own computer. There is no backup command, and removing Podman's machine deletes every app's data.
Download the Windows installer from ai.32dots.de and run it. Windows warns about an unknown publisher: More info, then Run anyway. On the last page, leave Set up Podman now ticked.
Open the Desk from the Start menu. On the left it says Local apps can run when Podman works. If it doesn't, press Set up Podman.
In the App Store, press Install and open on n8n. The first start downloads 1.2 GB and takes a few minutes. Then n8n opens in your browser.
Set up n8n's first account and skip the three offers that follow. Write the password down, because n8n on your computer can't mail you a new one. Then build one small workflow.
On n8n's card in the Desk, press Stop, then Open.
In n8n's editor, open the menu with the three dots and choose Download. It saves the workflow as one file.
Done when your workflow is still there after the stop and you hold its file outside the Desk.
On a Mac with an Apple chip or on Linux, you install Podman yourself, unpack the Desk's archive and start the app with desk open n8n. The Desk's help page has a quick start for each system.
Links & evidence
Documentation-based · not hands-on · Oct 12, 2026
Rests on the Desk's own pages at ai.32dots.de (overview, help and the page for teachers), read on 12 October 2026 for version 0.2.0-alpha.8. Nothing was installed or run for this review. The curriculum's own team makes the Desk, so this is a maker's account of its own tool. Sizes, timings and memory figures are the Desk team's measurements on one Windows 11 test laptop with 16 GB of memory, and the first project is a suggestion built from the help page's first steps.
Heidelberg AI Desk overview and downloads · Oct 12, 2026 — Version 0.2.0-alpha.8: Windows x64 installer of 2.7 MB (unsigned, sets up Podman), Apple Silicon archive (not notarized) and Linux x64 archive (command line only); no download for Windows on ARM or Intel Macs. Four built-in apps at fixed versions: n8n 2.40.7, Gitea 1.27.3, Open WebUI 0.11.4, Ollama 0.40.2. Further apps from recipes and shelves. From this version the Desk updates itself on one click. The earlier beta Desk stays downloadable and shares the data folder.
Heidelberg AI Desk help · Oct 12, 2026 — Quick start per system; the window with "Installed Apps" and the "App Store" and the buttons "Install and open", "Open", "Stop" and "Remove"; "Set up Podman" installs Podman on Windows, and Podman Desktop is optional. First steps in each app, download sizes and memory use on the Desk team's Windows 11 test laptop, the update check by size and SHA-256, and no backup command. The Desk is free of charge, its source code is not public, and each app keeps its own licence.
Heidelberg AI Desk for teachers · Oct 12, 2026 — Which laptops get which download (Windows 10 has not been tried), a suggested first session with n8n, and that students' work stays on their own laptops. Lists what has not been tried: a class, a student new to the Desk, a laptop with 8 GB of memory, and the window on a Mac.
Further review notes & alternatives
Alternatives and trade-offs
Podman on its own wins when you want every container setting in your own hands. The Desk runs on Podman, so what you learn there carries over. You give up the App Store, the fixed versions and the buttons.
LM Studio wins when a private chat with a local model is all you need: one program, no containers. The Desk wins when you also want n8n or Gitea next to the model.
Dokploy wins when a team needs the same apps shared and always on. It runs them on a server, and someone has to look after that server.
Heidelberg AI Desk, made by the curriculum's own team, installs and runs server tools as apps in containers on your own computer. n8n, Gitea, Open WebUI and Ollama are built in at fixed versions, and further apps come from a shelf. It is free, unsigned and an early test version (0.2.0-alpha.8).
Heidelberg AI (the curriculum.32dots.de team) · free · desktop · self-host
four built-in apps at fixed versions: n8n 2.40.7, Gitea 1.27.3, Open WebUI 0.11.4 and Ollama 0.40.2
sets up Podman itself on Windows; Podman Desktop is optional
Windows x64 installer of about 2.7 MB; archives for Apple Silicon Macs and Linux x64 (Linux is command line only)
further apps from a shelf, a list of app recipes shared at a web address
one-click update to later versions, starting from 0.2.0-alpha.8