Common questions, answered honestly.
If you are about to download SwarmMarshal and want to know what you are agreeing to, this page is for you. No marketing dodges.
What is this, in one breath?
What does SwarmMarshal actually do?
It collects the messages, calendar, contacts, and notes that already pile up across your tools, and it gives you a small team of supervised AI helpers that read the pile, point out what matters, draft the routine work, and ask you before doing anything you would not want done quietly.
Is this another chatbot?
No. There is a chat surface inside the app, but the point is the work agents prepare for you in the background. Drafts, reminders, summaries, sorted inboxes, and follow-ups show up in their normal places — not as a wall of chat.
Do I need to know anything about AI?
No. Every AI term in the product has a plain-English label on the surface. The technical names are still there for the curious, but they are not the way you operate the app.
Who is this for?
Anyone running too many small jobs by themselves: solo business owners, freelancers, family schedulers, support-of-one teams, and hobbyists with their own little tracking systems. SwarmMarshal is a desktop app, not an enterprise rollout.
Where does my data go?
Will SwarmMarshal read my email?
Only the accounts you connect, only on your computer. Mail, contacts, and the knowledge graph are stored on your machine. Sending mail home is not a feature.
Does my data get used to train AI?
No. Your messages are indexed and stored locally for search. When a cloud model is used to draft or summarize text, only the task-relevant context is sent — and you choose which models can be used at all.
Can I run everything on my own machine?
Yes. SwarmMarshal can route work to a local model through Ollama for inboxes that should never leave the computer. Cloud models are an opt-in for jobs where quality is worth it.
What happens if I uninstall?
Your data is in a folder under your Documents. Uninstalling the app does not erase your inbox or your custom trackers — they are yours to keep, copy, or delete.
Will it do something I did not ask for?
Can an agent send email without my approval?
No, not by default. Agents draft. The send button is yours. You can promote a specific kind of message to auto-send after you trust the pattern, but nothing is auto-send out of the box.
Can an agent delete my mail?
No, not by default. Deleting, archiving, and rule changes are approval-gated. The agent can suggest what to clean up; you decide what actually goes.
How do I stop an agent?
Every agent has a pause toggle on the team dashboard. Pause stops new work immediately. You can also delete the role and start over without losing your inbox.
What if the agent gets it wrong?
Corrections become preferences. Mark a draft wrong, recategorize a sender, or flip an approval; the agent updates the way it judges similar things next time.
What does it cost to run?
Is the app free?
Yes, during the public preview. Download, install, connect an inbox. There is no paywall on the desktop app.
Do I need to pay an AI provider?
Only if you choose a cloud model. If you run a local model with Ollama, the only cost is your computer's electricity. You can mix: run private mail through local models and use a cloud key for the harder writing.
Can the bill get out of hand?
No. Spend Guard caps daily spend per model and per agent. When the cap is reached, agents stop and tell you why instead of quietly running up a tab.
How hard is it to get started?
Does it run on Mac and PC?
Yes. SwarmMarshal ships as a Windows desktop app and a macOS app bundle. You can start on one machine and pair another Windows PC or Mac over your local network later.
Do I need a powerful computer?
A normal modern laptop is fine for the app and for indexing your messages. Local models prefer more RAM and a recent GPU; cloud models work on anything.
Do I need a developer to install it?
No. Download the installer, run it, follow the welcome flow. SwarmMarshal can guide setup and repair common local AI, browser, OAuth, and firewall problems when it sees them.
What if connecting Gmail or Outlook breaks?
The setup walkthroughs are about ten minutes each, and the app diagnoses common problems in plain English. If the network or OAuth fails, the app explains what is wrong and what to click.
What if I want to leave?
Your data, drafts, and skills are local files. You can copy them, archive them, or move them to another machine. Leaving is as easy as quitting the app.
Still on the fence?
The fastest way to know is to install it, connect one mailbox, and watch what an agent prepares before you approve anything.