SteelTrap — AI chat client with DevTools

Built for people who want to see under the hood

Everything other AI clients hide, SteelTrap shows you.

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DevTools Built In

See every API request, token count, and cost in real-time. Like browser DevTools, but for AI. Inspect the full payload, copy as cURL, track latency.

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400+ Models

Access every model on OpenRouter. Search by name or provider, compare pricing, switch instantly. Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, Llama, Mistral — all in one place.

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Bring Your Own Key

Your API key stays on your machine, stored in the OS keychain. SteelTrap never sees it, stores it, or touches it. No middleman markup, no subscription.

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Real-Time Cost Tracking

Know exactly what every message costs before and after it's sent. Credit balance always visible. Pricing shown per model, per million tokens.

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Persistent Conversations

Your chats are saved locally in SQLite. Pick up where you left off, search conversations, rename and organize. No cloud sync, no data leaving your machine.

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System Prompts

Custom instructions that stick across every conversation. Set your persona, coding preferences, or communication style once — every model follows your rules.

See it in action

Every request inspectable. Every token counted. Every dollar tracked.

SteelTrap full app view — chat panel with DevTools inspector

Three-panel layout: conversation, chat, and live DevTools — all in one window.

Payload Inspector

See the exact request sent to the model — model ID, message count, stream status — as it happens.

Token Usage

Per-request and session-wide token counts. Input, output, and totals at a glance.

Performance Stats

Time to first token, total duration, tokens per second — per request and averaged across the session.

Full Payload Viewer

Expand any request to see the complete message history, metadata, and copy as JSON or cURL.

One-Click Setup

Connect to OpenRouter in seconds — OAuth sign-in or paste your API key. No friction.

Settings

API connection, chat behavior, system prompts, display preferences — all in one place.

Privacy by design

Your data never leaves your machine

SteelTrap was designed from day one with a simple rule: if it's your data, it stays with you.

✓ No accounts. No login. No telemetry. Install and start chatting immediately.
✓ API keys stored in your OS keychain — never transmitted to our servers or logged anywhere.
✓ Conversations stored locally in SQLite — never uploaded, synced, or analyzed.
✓ Works offline (except for the actual LLM API calls, which go directly to OpenRouter).
✓ Fully transparent. No hidden network calls, no background data collection. What you see is what you get.

Data stored on your machine ✓

Data sent to our servers ✗

Account required ✗

Telemetry or analytics ✗

Fully transparent ✓

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) ✓

Download SteelTrap

Free. No account required.

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macOS

macOS 12 Monterey or later · Apple Silicon + Intel

Download .dmg

v0.1.1 · 6.0 MB · Apple Silicon

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Windows

Windows 10 or later

Planned for v0.2.0

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Linux

Ubuntu 22+ · Debian · Fedora