Capsule Base · open source, MIT

Talk to your data.

Capsule Base copies the records your business already keeps into one database on a machine you own. Then you ask it questions in plain language, and every answer cites the records it came from.

What it does

1. Copies your records in. Small connectors read the systems you already run, from a database or your accounting software to a CRM or a folder of exports. Nothing gets replaced.
2. Indexes them two ways. By meaning, so "hydraulic leak" finds "cylinder weeping fluid," and in plain tables, so counts, totals and dates come out exact.
3. Answers with sources. You ask, it finds the records, runs one read-only query if the question needs numbers, and writes an answer where every claim points to a record.

What an answer looks like

Asked of the made-up rental company in the spec's sample data:

Q: Which lifts came back with hydraulic problems this year, and did any unit have the problem twice?

A: Three lifts came back with hydraulic problems in 2026. The 19 ft scissor lift A‑104 had it twice: a weeping lift cylinder when Cedar Flats Paving returned it on May 18 [R1], and low fluid with slow lifting when Ridgeline Electric returned it on July 19 [R2]. The 45 ft boom A‑120 drifted down twice, both times from the jib cylinder seal [R3][R4]. The 26 ft scissor lift A‑110 had a loose pump fitting in March [R5].

R1 rentals R‑2291 · R2 rentals R‑2333 · R3 rentals R‑2240 · R4 rentals R‑2351 · R5 rentals R‑2231

Search found the records that match by meaning ("weeping cylinder," "drifted down"). One read-only query handled the dates. Every claim points to a rental record you can open.

Your data stays on your machine

• Your records live in a database on your own hardware. Indexing happens there too.
• When you ask a question, only the question and the records needed to answer it go to the AI provider you chose, on your own account. Every answer reports what was sent.
• With a local model, nothing leaves the building. RouterLM is the design for that.

What it connects to

Anything that exports a spreadsheet, plus direct connections for SQL Server, MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, Microsoft Access, QuickBooks Desktop, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Xero, FreshBooks and most practice-management tools. If a system can export its records, it can connect.

Open, under MIT

The whole design is published: the store, the connector contract, the query layer, security and sizing. It's detailed enough to build your own. The reference code joins it on GitHub once it's built and tested against the spec.

• Builders read the spec and build it.
• Almost-builders get partway and call for the last part.
• Owners who want the result have me build it. It starts with a free call and a discovery, and most installs are working in about a week. How pricing works.

Want it to watch, too?

Tend8 is the paid add-on: everything Capsule does, plus a morning brief, a live board, alerts when something slips, and you can ask it things or tell it to do them.

The case for talking to your data instead of clicking through it is made at book length in The Last Interface.