Survival LLM

Overview

Survival LLM is a free AI assistant and emergency library that runs entirely on the user's computer. It searches an offline library of medical, emergency, how-to, repair, and encyclopedia articles, answers from what it finds, and shows the exact passages and articles used. It is designed for blackout, first-aid, water, food-safety, and other emergency questions, and it can also search a user's own PDFs, Word documents, ebooks, web pages, and text files.

Key Features

• Works with no internet: the AI model and library live on the computer, and questions do not leave it.
• Shows sources: every answer lists the articles read, and users can open an article with the exact passage highlighted.
• Provides an emergency and reference library spanning medical references, FEMA and CDC guidance, survival manuals, how-to guides, repair guides, and about 930,000 Wikipedia articles.
• Selects an AI model based on computer memory, with more memory allowing a smarter model.
• Searches personal files such as PDFs, Word documents, EPUB ebooks, web pages, and text files alongside the library.
• Includes memory notes and reasoning controls so users can adjust how the assistant responds.

Use Cases

• Answering emergency questions about food safety in a blackout, burn treatment, water purification, generators, carbon monoxide, hypothermia, bleeding, and other first-aid topics.
• Checking official emergency and medical guidance from sources such as Ready.gov, CDC, MedlinePlus, WikEM, and U.S. military manuals with cited passages.
• Searching a generator manual, medicine list, family emergency plan, or other personal documents together with the built-in library.
• Using the assistant offline after initial setup when internet access is unavailable.

Getting Started

• Download the Mac or Windows build and unzip it.
• Open Survival LLM; on Windows, open the extracted folder and double-click Survival LLM.bat.
• During setup, pick a library and an AI model, then click Download; setup can resume if the internet drops or the app is quit.
• Complete setup while online; after that the app needs no internet.

Deployment & Requirements

• Runs on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or newer) with macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, and on 64-bit Windows 10 or 11.
• Requires internet during initial setup; after setup it works with the internet off.
• Free disk space must cover the chosen AI model plus 5 GB, plus extra space while the library installs.
• Model downloads range from 6 GB to 80 GB depending on the computer's memory and platform; the Essentials library is about 1.3 GB and the full library about 9 GB.
• On Windows, the app downloads the Ollama AI engine (1.6 GB) during setup; the Mac app has it built in.

Before You Adopt

• License: Other. Review its terms before using, modifying, or distributing the project.
• AI models can make mistakes, especially smaller models; the app exposes the articles used so answers can be checked.
• The first launch may trigger an operating-system warning because the app is not distributed through an app store.