Peak Browser Documentation
Peak Browser is a native Apple browser workspace for quick lookups, saved context, focused work, optional AI, and nearby collaboration. It is built with SwiftUI and WebKit, and runs across Apple platforms with a local-first privacy model.
Peak is not just an address bar with tabs. It is a summonable workspace where a lookup can become a note, task board, AI chat, whiteboard, saved session, mesh conversation, or even a short intermission game.
Instant Access
On macOS, summon Peak from anywhere with a global hotkey. Open it when you need it, search or capture something, then return to your flow.
Native Apple Workspace
Native SwiftUI, WebKit, Core Data, CloudKit, Keychain, and MultipeerConnectivity. Web tabs use real WebKit views.
Local-First By Design
Workspace data stays on-device and can sync through your private iCloud. API keys live in Keychain. No built-in analytics.
Alongside real WebKit web tabs, app-native tabs can hold notes, Kanban boards, AI chats, whiteboards, mesh rooms, arcade games, and local tools.
Getting Started
Installation
Peak Browser is available for Apple platforms. The current app targets macOS 14.0+ and iOS/iPadOS 17.0+.
Download Peak from the App Store, launch it, and complete the welcome flow.
Global Hotkey
On Mac, Peak can be summoned with:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Control + 1 | Toggle Peak window |
You can change this in Settings. Peak supports Command, Shift, Option, and Control modifier combinations.
Menu Bar Mode
On macOS, Peak can sit in the menu bar. Clicking the Peak icon toggles the window. Peak can also hide automatically when it loses focus, which makes it feel more like a fast command workspace than a traditional browser window.
Tip: This behavior can be changed in Settings.
Root Pages
Peak's root experience is a horizontal workspace with five major pages:
- Landing: The starting point. One input to search the web, open a URL, create a note, start a task board, begin an AI chat, or create a whiteboard.
- Dashboard: Your local command center — profiles, incognito, bookmarks, saved sessions, and jump-back entries.
- Activity Hub: A timeline of recent searches, pages, notes, boards, chats, and whiteboards.
- Arcade Hub: An Intermission area with short games and focus tools.
- Mesh Hub: The local peer-to-peer collaboration layer for nearby devices.
One Input, Many Outcomes
The landing input supports multiple modes:
- Search — search the web or open a URL
- Whiteboard — create an infinite canvas
- Tasks — start a Kanban board
- Note — capture a block-based note
- LLM chat — begin an AI conversation
Search Engines
Search supports multiple engines, including DuckDuckGo, Google, Bing, Brave Search, Startpage, Wikipedia, Stack Overflow, GitHub, MDN, Google Scholar, WolframAlpha, YouTube, Unsplash, and IMDb.
Dashboard & Activity
The dashboard is your local command center. It includes workspace profiles, incognito mode, bookmarks, bookmark groups, saved tab sessions, activity summaries, and jump-back entries for recent work.
Activity Hub
The Activity Hub shows recent searches, visited pages, created notes, task boards, chats, whiteboards, and other workspace events. It helps you return to useful context without relying on memory.
Profiles & Incognito
Workspace profiles isolate cookies, sessions, caches, and local web storage, so personal, work, and sandbox browsing can stay separate.
Incognito mode avoids history and activity persistence — browse without leaving a trail in your workspace.
Block Notes
Peak Notes are block-based documents for capturing structured thoughts without leaving the browser workspace.
Creating A Note
From the landing page, switch the input mode to Note, type a title or first idea, and submit. Peak creates a new note tab immediately. You can also open notes from the Notes inspector.
Block Types
- Headings
- Paragraphs
- To-do blocks
- Code blocks
- Markdown blocks
- Links
- Separators
- Images
Images can be added through drag and drop or file input.
Export: On macOS, notes can be exported to PDF.
Mesh-Aware Notes
When mesh sync is enabled, note changes can be represented as structured workspace deltas and shared with nearby peers.
Kanban Tasks
Peak includes native Kanban boards for lightweight project tracking.
Creating A Board
From the landing page, switch the input mode to Tasks, enter a board name, and submit. Peak opens the new task board in a tab.
Boards And Cards
Task boards support lanes, cards, drag-and-drop movement, and local persistence through Core Data. Boards can also participate in mesh workspace sync when enabled.
Whiteboards
Peak includes an infinite whiteboard workspace for visual thinking, diagrams, maps, files, and lightweight design work.
Whiteboard Tools
- Select and pan
- Freehand drawing
- Lines, arrows, elbow connectors, and curved connectors
- Rectangles, circles, diamonds, triangles, inverse triangles, and cylinders
- Text, sticky notes, and tables
- Images, documents, videos, audio notes, and web embeds
- Groups and layer organization
- Export controls for selected elements
- Lucide icon assets
- World, continent, and country map assets
Whiteboards can also sync through Peak Mesh when enabled.
Optional AI
AI in Peak is optional. You can use it when it helps, or ignore it when you want Peak to remain a quiet browser workspace.
Local AI
Peak can discover local Ollama models from your machine and expose them as local chat models. Local model requests stay on-device through your Ollama setup.
Cloud AI
Peak can use OpenRouter for cloud model access. Add your OpenRouter API key in Settings. Your key is stored securely in Apple Keychain.
Current cloud model routes include:
- Auto Routing
- Gemini Pro
- Gemini Flash
- GPT Latest
- GPT Mini
- Claude Opus
- Claude Sonnet
- DeepSeek V4 Pro
- DeepSeek V4 Flash
- Kimi Latest
Note: Model availability depends on OpenRouter and your account configuration.
AI Chat Tabs
AI chats live as normal Peak tabs, so you can keep a chat beside websites, notes, tasks, and whiteboards. Peak can also use web-search grounding when enabled.
Local Mesh
Peak Mesh connects nearby Apple devices for local collaboration. It uses Apple MultipeerConnectivity for nearby discovery, chat, tab sharing, workspace sync, and game invites without accounts or a cloud relay.
Mesh Capabilities
- Peer discovery
- Mesh chat
- Tab sharing
- Shared workspace signals
- Note deltas
- Task board deltas
- Whiteboard deltas
- AI chat sync
- Game invites
- Multiplayer game state
Opt-in by design: Mesh does not use a cloud relay. Workspace categories are controlled by user-facing toggles, so Peak does not silently broadcast everything.
Arcade & Intermission
Peak includes an Intermission area with short games and focus tools — take a break without leaving the workspace.
Current arcade and pastime surfaces include games like Peak Runner, Bit Copter, Cache Breaker, Bit Artillery, Global Conquest, and Matrix Chess, plus focus spaces like breathing, rain, slideshows, and motion tools.
Multiplayer: Some games support local mesh multiplayer — invite nearby devices into a lobby.
Essential Hotkeys
Master Peak with these shortcuts:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Control + 1 | Toggle Peak window globally on macOS |
| Cmd + N | New tab |
| Cmd + W | Close current tab |
| Cmd + R | Refresh current web tab |
| Cmd + 1...9 | Switch to tab 1 through 9 |
Whiteboards also include their own tool shortcuts, including select, pan, draw, text, sticky notes, shapes, arrows, grouping, duplication, zoom, and delete.
Privacy & Data
Peak is designed around local ownership and explicit control.
What Peak Stores Locally
- Browsing history
- Saved sessions
- Bookmarks
- Activity logs
- Notes
- Task boards
- AI chat history
- Whiteboards
- Workspace profiles
- Dashboard layout
- Mesh message history
This data is stored locally and can sync through the user's private iCloud account using CloudKit.
What Peak Does Not Do
Peak does not ship with built-in analytics. It does not require a Peak account for local workspace use. Mesh collaboration does not require a cloud relay.
Cloud AI and web search are opt-in workflows. If you use cloud AI, prompts are sent to the configured provider through OpenRouter. If you use local Ollama, model requests stay local to your machine.
Data Management
Settings include privacy controls for clearing workspace data, including history, sessions, chats, notes, bookmarks, task boards, whiteboards, activity, dashboard data, tags, and mesh message history.