Frequently Asked Questions

Kobel is a desktop app for Windows and macOS that acts as a secure gateway between your AI (e.g. Claude Desktop or ChatGPT) and your local files. You decide which files the AI can see and edit. Everything stays local on your device.

Kobel is available for Windows (Microsoft Store) and for macOS (Mac App Store).

Kobel supports all AI apps using the MCP protocol – including Claude Desktop, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI and Codex. ChatGPT in the ordinary chat window can be connected too, but by a different route: not as a program on your computer, but through a protected internet address (tunnel via cloudflared). That route is available on Windows only — Apple's sandbox does not permit it in the Mac App Store. Why ChatGPT is different is explained in the next three questions. As more AI apps adopt MCP, compatibility keeps growing.

Because ChatGPT runs somewhere else. Claude Desktop, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini and Codex are programs on your computer – they find Kobel right there, and one click is enough. The ordinary ChatGPT chat window does not run on your computer, it runs on OpenAI's servers. For it to reach Kobel at all, Kobel provides a protected internet address that you enter into ChatGPT once. Your files stay on your computer the whole time – only ChatGPT's requests travel over that address. We say this openly: this route is a few clicks longer than the others. Codex, OpenAI's coding environment, is not affected – it runs as a program on your computer and connects with one click, just like Claude or Cursor.

Yes, about a minute's work. The address belongs to the Kobel that is running right now: the moment you close Kobel – whether you close it or shut the computer down – it is gone, and the next start brings a new one. Kobel tells you by itself; the “Connect AI” tile then shows an exclamation mark and walks you through it: create a new address, delete the old entry in ChatGPT, create it again with the new address. Nothing changes about your released folders. A permanently identical address is not possible on this route – the free Cloudflare tunnel assigns a new one on every start and it cannot be reserved. A fixed address would require a server run by us – and then the access to your computer would run through us. That is a responsibility we do not want to take on.

For large requests, yes. The other AI programs run on your computer and reach Kobel in milliseconds. ChatGPT asks from OpenAI's data centre – every single request travels across the internet and back. For a normal question you barely notice. But when the AI searches many thousands of files at once, it adds up. The best advice applies to every AI: tell it which folder to search in. Then ChatGPT is fast too.

No. Kobel is intuitive and designed for everyone – no coding skills required. Some basic technical knowledge helps for the App-Proxy, but it's not required.

No. Kobel only includes the folders you explicitly add — only those are reachable by the AI through Kobel, nothing else. You keep full control over the access path that Kobel provides.

Through Kobel, the AI only sees the folders you have shared — and only with the permissions you have granted. No other files, system folders, or apps are reachable through this access. Important: Kobel controls access through its own gateway, so if your AI app has its own file features outside Kobel, those are beyond the control of Kobel — connect only tools you trust. What you don't share simply doesn't exist for the AI through Kobel.

Yes. You can remove any folder from Kobel at any time with a click. The files themselves remain untouched on your PC.

No, Kobel itself stores nothing: permission checks run locally on your device and no file contents are sent to Kobel servers. Important: once you share a file with an AI app (e.g. ChatGPT or Claude), that AI may process the contents under its own privacy policy — usually on its cloud servers. You decide which data leaves your computer through the traffic-light permissions. For purchases on Windows, our payment provider Paddle also processes the data required for licence management. If you buy through the Mac App Store, Apple handles the payment — we do not receive any of your payment data.

Green – Edit: The AI may directly modify the file.
Teal – Edit + Backup: Like green, but with automatic backup before each change.
Orange – Copy: The AI works on a copy, the original stays untouched.
Yellow – Read only: The AI can read but not change anything.
Red – Blocked: The AI has no access at all.

Yes. You can adjust permissions for any folder at any time with a click.

Disabled folders are completely invisible to the AI.

With Pro purchase (€49) you pay once and use Kobel without further costs. With Pro subscription (€3.90/month) you get all features – cancel anytime. In the Mac App Store, Apple's price tiers apply; purchase, cancellation and refunds are handled by Apple there.

Every download in the first year (until August 1, 2027) automatically gets the first month of Pro for free – with all Pro features, no auto-renewal.

Vollautomatisch – nach dem Download wird er aktiviert, ohne dass du etwas tun musst.

Ja. Basis ist dauerhaft kostenlos und erfordert keine Registrierung. Du kannst jederzeit auf Pro upgraden.

For purchases made through the Mac App Store, everything is handled by Apple. You manage and cancel your subscription in the subscription settings of your Apple Account (on a Mac: App Store → your name → Account Settings → Subscriptions; on iPhone: Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions). You request a refund directly from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com – we are technically unable to cancel or refund Mac App Store purchases ourselves. More on this: Cancellation and Withdrawal & returns.

Yes. Kobel is an MCP gateway for both. The app catalogue connects common tools in one click, and the app proxy makes your own local software — CRM, ERP or industry-specific applications — MCP-capable without modifying the software itself. Cloud storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive is added too, along with eight social media platforms via their official APIs. Every connection is released individually and can be switched off again with a single click.

Yes. Nothing is released by default. Every connected app is released individually and switched off individually — from the system tray, without deleting settings or breaking connections. Every app action is written to the tamper-proof activity log with a timestamp, and the AI can neither read nor alter that log.

Yes, for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon and Telegram — exclusively through the platforms' official interfaces. Threads and Reddit are in preparation and marked as such in Kobel. The AI can publish posts, reply to comments and read messages; approval stays with you, credentials are encrypted on Windows via the operating system's key store (DPAPI), and every action is logged.

A local permission gateway. Kobel releases nothing by default, requires an explicit release for every folder and every app, revokes any of them instantly from the system tray, logs every action tamper-proof, and evaluates all permissions on your own machine without uploading file contents. On Windows, credentials are stored encrypted in the operating system's key store (DPAPI); Keychain support for macOS is on the way.

The App-Proxy is a Pro feature that lets you make your own local software (e.g. CRM, image editing) MCP-compatible.

Just write to us at hello@kobel.app – we're happy to help.

Kobel ist ideal für Unternehmen und Teams, die KI-Tools kontrolliert einsetzen wollen, ohne interne Daten zu gefährden. Auch Entwickler, die ihre Codebase absichern möchten, und Agenturen, die mit sensiblen Kundendaten arbeiten, profitieren stark von Kobel.

Beim Kauf einer Team-Lizenz erhältst du einen Admin-Zugang. Damit legst du die Plätze für deine Mitarbeiter selbst an: Unter Einstellungen → Team verwalten erstellst du pro Mitarbeiter einen eigenen Zugangs-Code (SEAT-Code) und gibst ihn weiter. Du bekommst also nicht automatisch z. B. 10 fertige Codes zugeschickt, sondern erzeugst sie nach Bedarf – bis zur gekauften Platzanzahl.

Auf Windows: Jeder Mitarbeiter gibt seinen Code in Kobel unter Abo → Lizenz-Key ein.
Auf dem Mac: Dort gibt es kein Feld für Lizenzschlüssel. Dein Mitarbeiter meldet sich in der App per E-Mail an – mit derselben E-Mail-Adresse, die du für seinen Platz hinterlegt hast. Er bekommt einen sechsstelligen Einmalcode zugeschickt, tippt ihn ein, und Kobel schaltet sich frei.

Die Team-Regeln legt der Admin in Kobel fest und speichert sie als Datei an einem Ort, den eure Firma selbst kontrolliert – z. B. einem Netzlaufwerk oder einem geteilten Firmen-Ordner. Die Geräte der Mitarbeiter lesen die Regeln von dort automatisch. Bei Kobel werden diese Regeln nicht gespeichert – Kobel bleibt lokal.

Ja. Du kannst die Regeldatei in einen geteilten Cloud-Ordner legen (z. B. ein gemeinsames OneDrive-, Google-Drive- oder Dropbox-Verzeichnis eurer Firma), der auf allen Rechnern verfügbar ist. Alternativ gelten die Regeln nur auf dem jeweiligen Gerät. Eine zentrale, automatische Verteilung braucht immer einen gemeinsamen Speicherort.