Pip

Meet Pip, Your Family's Helper

Pip lives in your family's own private chat. Ask it to remind Mia about swimming at 4, pin "we're out of milk" to the noticeboard, or tell you what's on this week, and it just does it, in plain words, from any phone.

Each person in the family gets their own Pip in a private chat, plus a shared Pip in the family room when someone mentions it. Pip remembers what matters to each of them, and keeps one person's private chat out of everyone else's.

Children can chat with Pip too. If a child's chat touches something worrying, Pip points them to help and tells every grown-up straight away. You choose, child by child, what grown-ups see.

Why Pip Makes Family Life Easier

• Reminders that reach the right person, set by just asking.
• A morning "what's on today" for anyone who wants one: their calendar and the family's, today's meals, chores and reminders, and what's on the noticeboard.
• Chores that get ticked off, because asking "what's mine to do?" is easier than opening an app.
• "What's for dinner?" answered, and the shopping list kept by whoever's in the kitchen.
• A quiet check-in now and then with the kids, when you switch it on, and a short evening note for the grown-ups.
• One place for the family's bits and pieces, instead of a dozen group chats and sticky notes.

Product Highlights

Everything a family needs, in one bundle. Pip comes with Family Chat (where it lives), Baikal for the family calendar, Donetick for chores, and Mealie for meals and the shopping list, so it has something useful to say on day one.

Bring the AI you already pay for. Sign Pip in with your ChatGPT plan (no API key needed), or paste an API key from OpenRouter or Anthropic. One sign-in covers the whole household.

Your calendars, wherever they are. Pip reads the family calendar from Baikal, and from iCloud, Fastmail or Nextcloud too. Each person can connect their own calendar with a link Pip sends them.

Grown-ups stay in the loop. Pip alerts grown-ups about worrying chats straight away, and you decide, per child, whether grown-ups see summaries and whether the child is told.

A setup page made for parents. Four steps: your account, your family, Pip's brain, and Say hello. Pip takes it from there.

Technical Specifications

• 🌱 Pip is built on Hermes Agent, an open source AI agent, set up for families
• 💬 Family Chat runs tuwunel, an open source Matrix server, end-to-end encrypted and invite-only
• 📅 Baikal (CalDAV) for the family calendar; also reads iCloud, Fastmail and Nextcloud calendars
• ✅ Donetick for chores, with each person connecting their own account
• 🍲 Mealie for recipes, the meal plan and the shopping list, with each person connecting their own account
• 🧠 Works with your ChatGPT plan, or an OpenRouter or Anthropic API key
• 📱 Family members use free Matrix apps like FluffyChat or Element, on iPhone, Android, tablets and Chromebooks
• 💾 Daily backups of every app in the bundle

Let ElfHosted Handle the Heavy Lifting for Pip

• No server to run and no updates to apply. Pip, Family Chat, Baikal, Donetick and Mealie are kept up to date for you.
• Everything is already wired together: Pip finds your family in Family Chat, and your calendar, chores and meals in Baikal, Donetick and Mealie.
• Friendly humans on Discord when you need a hand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which AI does Pip use?
The one you choose. Sign in with your ChatGPT plan, with no API key needed (your plan's usual limits apply), or paste an API key from OpenRouter or Anthropic and pay as you go.

Who can read our chats?
Family Chat is end-to-end encrypted and invite-only. The messages Pip answers are sent to the AI service you chose, so it can reply. Grown-ups see only what you set for each child.

Can children chat with Pip?
Once you invite them to Family Chat, each child gets their own Pip. You decide what grown-ups can see of each child's chats, and if a chat turns worrying, Pip points the child to help and tells every grown-up straight away.

We already have Family Chat. Can we add Pip?
Yes. Pip's bundle includes Family Chat, so switch your subscription to Pip and your family's chats stay where they are.

Do we have to use the calendar, chores and meals apps?
No. They're there when you want them, and you can switch any of them off from your apps dashboard.

Pip brings your family's reminders, calendar, chores and noticeboard and tonight's dinner into the chat you already share, with a grown-up never far away.

Try Pip free for 7 days with ElfHosted, and let your family meet its new helper.