Frequently asked questions

Quick answers to common questions about Grout App. For detail, follow the links to the full articles.

General

What is Grout App?An AI-native studio and multipage canvas built for students, educators, and deep-focus knowledge workers. It works around your personal context rather than giving generic internet answers.

How is it different from a normal AI chatbot?A chatbot answers from the open web. Grout App answers from your uploaded materials, on an infinite canvas instead of a chat log, and lets you switch between 300+ models.

Workspace

Can other people work on my canvas with me?No. Grout App is strictly single-player — one person per canvas. There's no multi-cursor collaboration and no commenting system. See Single-player mode explained.

Can I use Grout App without internet?Yes — Grout App is now 100% offline-capable. The core canvas, Local AI, and offline image generation all work without a connection. Cloud models and phone scanning need a connection. See Working offline with Grout App.

Is Grout App a web app?It's a desktop application — see Installing Grout App.

AI-Memory

What can I upload?PDFs, past papers, curriculum guides, and case studies — plus photos of physical books and handwritten notes via phone scanning.

Do I need to organize my uploads?No. Material is automatically broken down, sorted by subject, labeled, digitized, and made searchable.

How do I get notes from a physical book in?Scan a QR code with your phone and send photos over Wi-Fi. See Scanning notes from your phone with a QR code.

AI Tools & Models

How many AI models can I use?More than 300 cloud models, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini — plus Local AI on your own machine.

How do I stop the AI giving generic answers?Use Context-Locked Prompting: type @ to summon a file from AI-Memory and lock the answer to it.

Is my sensitive data safe?Use Local AI — it runs entirely on your machine and zero data leaves your device.

Offline image generation

Can I generate images without internet?Yes. Offline models (Bonsai, Stable Diffusion, Flux) run entirely on your machine. Download a model once, then generate offline. See Offline image generation: overview.

Do offline image models use Merits?No. Offline image generation does not consume Merits. Only cloud models do.

Which GPUs are supported for offline image generation?Metal (macOS), CUDA (NVIDIA), and Vulkan — Grout App picks the right one automatically when available. CPU models (Bonsai, Stable Diffusion) work even without a supported GPU.

Can I add my own image model?Yes. Any sd.cpp-compatible GGUF model from HuggingFace can be added. See Adding custom GGUF models from HuggingFace.

Cloud or offline — which should I use?Cloud for the best quality, offline to save Merits and keep generations private. You can switch any time. See Cloud vs offline image generation: when to use which.

Export & Accountability

How do I get my work out of Grout App?Export to PDF or DOCX, or present it live with Present Now.

How can a teacher verify my work is authentic?The Transparency Dashboard shows a visual timeline of prompts, sources, and sketches used. See The Transparency Dashboard.

Still need help?

Post on the Feedback board, check the Roadmap for what's coming, or read the Changelog for recent updates.