Set up in three screens
Welcome
See what runs locally: on-device indexing, a Professional trial, and MCP for your IDE.
Add documents
Drop files or folders into your knowledge base — indexing starts on your PC right away.
Connect your IDE
Enable inbound MCP and register Cursor or Claude Desktop so agents can search your docs.
Then trust what comes back
Answers are checked, not just retrieved
Every passthrough reply is scored against the chunks Terran injected — grounded, weak, or unsupported.
One corpus per project
Namespaces keep client work, internal wikis, and side projects apart. Agents search only what you point them at.
Your documents stay on your PC
- Runs locally on your Windows PC — not a Bitfield Creek hosted knowledge-base service.
- Documents are indexed on-device; optional web search, chunking LLMs, and external tools are opt-in.
- Management API and inbound MCP ship with bearer-token auth enabled by default.
Pair it with Aura Wire
Wire’s Terran stage injects the best chunks from this corpus into every VS Code chat — no re-pointing each IDE. Included with any paid Terran license.
Explore Aura WireEditions
Free covers one knowledge base with inbound MCP. Paid editions are one-time purchases that add namespaces, passthrough, the Management API, and team controls.
Free
$0
Free forever for evaluation
Try Aura Terran locally with one private knowledge base.
Windows installer — the .exe will not run on Mac, Linux, phones, or tablets. Open the download on a Windows PC.
Digitally signed by Bitfield Creek
Prefer the setup download from this site. Verify this download · Download security
Personal
$39
One-time purchase · non-commercial
Private local context and RAG for individuals — multiple knowledge bases plus Management API and LLM passthrough.
Recommended
Professional
$59
One-time purchase · commercial
The developer edition: commercial solo use, external MCP, advanced retrieval, metadata filtering, web search, and server stats.
7-day trial starts on first launch — no key, no card. Download and start the trial
Windows installer — the .exe will not run on Mac, Linux, phones, or tablets. Open the download on a Windows PC.
Digitally signed by Bitfield Creek
Prefer the setup download from this site. Verify this download · Download security
Teams
$299
One-time · $299 for 5 seats · $49 per additional seat after bundle purchase
The small-team edition: tool policy, secret redaction, deployment docs, team licensing, and priority support.
Coming Later
Enterprise
—
Coming later
Coming later: governed connectors, scheduled sync, SSO, RBAC, audit logs, and enterprise deployment.
| Edition | Free | Personal | Recommended Professional | Teams | Coming Later Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 Free forever for evaluation | $39 One-time purchase · non-commercial | $59 One-time purchase · commercial | $299 One-time · $299 for 5 seats · $49 per additional seat after bundle purchase | — Coming later |
| Best for | Try Aura Terran locally with one private knowledge base. | Private local context and RAG for individuals — multiple knowledge bases plus Management API and LLM passthrough. | The developer edition: commercial solo use, external MCP, advanced retrieval, metadata filtering, web search, and server stats. | The small-team edition: tool policy, secret redaction, deployment docs, team licensing, and priority support. | Coming later: governed connectors, scheduled sync, SSO, RBAC, audit logs, and enterprise deployment. |
| Features | |||||
| Local desktop app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Runs locally | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Root folders | Up to 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Planned |
| Unlimited root folders | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Multiple namespaces / knowledge bases | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Management API | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Prompt profiles | Defaults | Basic | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Chunking controls | Defaults | Basic | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Retrieval tuning | Defaults | Basic | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Tags and metadata filtering | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Optional web search blending | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| LLM passthrough (OpenAI / Ollama) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Inbound MCP server | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| rag_search for Cursor / Claude Desktop | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Automatic conflict settlement | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| External MCP client | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Tool policy and approvals | — | — | — | ✓ | Planned |
| Secret redaction | — | — | — | ✓ | Planned |
| Tool-pack import/export | — | — | — | ✓ | Planned |
| Server stats | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | Planned |
| Commercial use | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | Contact |
| Team usage | — | — | — | ✓ | Planned |
| Priority support | — | — | — | ✓ | Contact |
| SharePoint connector | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later |
| Google Docs / Google Drive connector | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later |
| Confluence connector | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later |
| SSO / SAML / OIDC | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later |
| Audit logs | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later | Coming later |
| Get started | Download Free Windows installer — the .exe will not run on Mac, Linux, phones, or tablets. Open the download on a Windows PC. Digitally signed by Bitfield Creek Prefer the setup download from this site. Verify this download · Download security | | 7-day trial starts on first launch — no key, no card. Download and start the trial Windows installer — the .exe will not run on Mac, Linux, phones, or tablets. Open the download on a Windows PC. Digitally signed by Bitfield Creek Prefer the setup download from this site. Verify this download · Download security | | |
Questions
How long does setup take?
Most people are searching their first documents within minutes. Download the Windows installer, launch the app, create a namespace, and drag in a folder. On-device embeddings work out of the box — no Docker, Python environment, cloud account, or API keys required. Optional MCP setup for Cursor is one stdio command copied from Settings.
Is my data uploaded to Bitfield Creek?
Aura Terran is a local-first desktop app. Your documents are indexed locally unless you explicitly configure remote model providers, web search, or external tools — those may send relevant request data to third parties.
How do I connect Cursor or Claude Desktop?
Enable the inbound MCP server in Settings and paste the stdio bridge command into your MCP client config. Agents call rag_search against your indexed corpus — the same hybrid retrieval pipeline as the built-in Search UI and Management API.
Do I need OpenAI or Ollama?
No for core search. Embeddings run on-device by default (ONNX Runtime), and hybrid retrieval works without any external model. OpenAI-compatible or Ollama endpoints are optional — for an ingest-time Chunking LLM under Settings → Chunking, optional Ollama embeddings, or LLM Passthrough upstream forwarding. At answer time you can also call rag_search / Management API and inject chunks into whatever chat model your client already uses.
What file formats can I ingest?
Aura Terran indexes common document and code formats: PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, HTML, Markdown, plain text, and typical source and config files (JSON, YAML, and more). Add individual files, whole folders, or drag-and-drop from Explorer.
What are the limits of the Free edition?
Aura Terran Free lets you try the app locally with one knowledge base and up to 3 root folders (subfolders included). It is intended for personal evaluation and non-commercial use.
Is Aura Terran a subscription?
No. Free is free for evaluation. Paid editions are one-time purchases for the current major version. Future major upgrades may be paid, with discounts for existing paid customers.
Can Aura Terran work offline?
Yes for core indexing, on-device embeddings, and search. Paid licenses work offline when a valid stored license exists. An optional Chunking LLM needs network access if you point it at a cloud API; local Ollama chunking works offline. Optional web search blending and remote providers require network when configured.
More in the setup guide.