Concept preview · in development
Darkweb turns any phone, tablet or laptop, including the old ones in your drawer, into an offline library of medical guides, field manuals, Wikipedia and maps. Share it with the people around you over Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth. Ask it questions on the device, and get answers with sources.
Free up an old phone or tablet and fill it with what matters when the network doesn't. Reading and search need no AI and no modern hardware.
Bluetooth discovers libraries nearby. Wi‑Fi moves the packs. Every copy is checked against the original publisher's signature, so it stays trustworthy however many hands carry it.
On capable devices, an on-device model answers only from the packs you installed and cites the page. When the evidence is thin, it says so.
How it works
Choose topics in Essential, Standard or Comprehensive tiers, and see the size before you download.
Large downloads resume where they stopped. Every file is hash-checked against a signed catalog.
Read, search, ask and share with no connection at all. No account, nothing phoning home.
Host your library for people nearby, or let them copy a pack to carry away.
Packs
Packs come from a public catalog and from any private catalog you add. Each one carries its license, its size and its publisher's signature.
Planned launch packs · illustrative
Plain-language medical references from MDWiki and MedlinePlus.
CC BY-SA · Public domainWater, shelter, first aid and navigation, from manuals cleared for public release.
Public domainFrom a compact text-only edition to the full encyclopedia with images.
CC BY-SAOffline vector maps built from OpenStreetMap, one region at a time.
ODbLPublic-domain books from Project Gutenberg's collection.
Public domainA small open model sized to your device, from about half a gigabyte.
Apache 2.0Signed by the publisher. Your device trusts the catalog's key, not the network or the person who handed you the pack.
Open formats. Content uses the same ZIM archives as Kiwix, maps use PMTiles, and models use GGUF.
Add your own catalogs. Point Darkweb at a private catalog with a link or a QR code, and its packs sit beside the public ones.
Nearby
Leave an old tablet on a charger and it becomes the library for a household, a camp or a classroom. Anyone nearby can read from it or take a copy with them, with no internet anywhere.
Bluetooth announces which libraries are nearby, much like offline mesh messengers do. Gigabyte-sized packs then move over a shared network, a hotspot, or a USB stick or SD card.
Whoever hands you a pack, your device checks it against the original publisher's signature. A tampered copy is rejected.
Announcing your library is off until you turn it on, and it uses a neutral device name. Only packs licensed for sharing are offered.
Ask
On phones and laptops with enough memory, a small open model runs entirely on the device. It answers from the packs you installed, shows exactly where each answer came from, and stays quiet when your library doesn't cover the question.
Devices
Darkweb checks what your device can handle and offers only what will run well on it. Planned for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux.
| Tier | Typical device | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Library | Old phones and tablets from the drawer | Read, search, host and share. No AI needed. |
| Phones with 3–4 GB of memory | Short cited answers from a sub-1B model | |
| Standard | Phones with 6–8 GB of memory | Fuller answers from a 2B-class model |
| Large | Flagship phones and laptops | 4B-class models, image questions |
| Home base | Desktops and small home servers | Larger models, and answers for paired devices |
For organizations
Schools, clinics, relief teams and field crews can publish private, signed catalogs of their own material: protocols, curricula, manuals, maps. Darkweb delivers them to every device and keeps them verifiable offline.
No. Darkweb has nothing to do with Tor or hidden services. The name is about the grid going dark: it's the web you keep when the internet is down, out of reach or shut off.
Not yet. Darkweb is a concept in development, and this page describes what we're building. The first builds will target Android and iOS.
The plan is a free app with free, openly licensed packs. Curated bundles and private catalogs for organizations would be paid.
No. Reading, search and sharing work on any supported device without a model. The AI is an optional download for devices that can run it well.
Darkweb is a reference library, not a doctor. It points you to the source material in your packs and shows where every answer came from. Always seek professional care when you can reach it.
Both inspired it. Kiwix makes excellent offline readers, and Project NOMAD runs a full offline server on a PC. Darkweb aims to bring the library, the AI and device-to-device sharing together in one app that runs on the phone in your pocket, using the same open formats.