Documentation
Frequently asked questions
TOPOS, personal AI nodes, self-hosting, and hosted service
Updated June 30, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about TOPOS, running your own node, and how Dialogues can help.
What is TOPOS?
TOPOS is a personal AI node that helps you understand and regulate the information shaping your life.
What does it do?
It measures your information health, diagnoses weak or harmful patterns, recommends what you need, and acts with your permission to improve your environment.
What does it help with?
Better decisions, stronger relationships, healthier attention, better opportunities, and a more accurate representation of who you are.
Why does it matter?
Because your life is increasingly shaped by information systems, but you do not yet have your own system for shaping information back.
What is a personal AI node?
A personal AI node is a private database and compute environment you control. TOPOS stores your data, context, and permissions on your terms so AI and apps work for you — not the other way around.
How is TOPOS different from cloud AI services?
Cloud AI services optimize for the provider. TOPOS lets you define constraints for your identity, ingest data from your sources, and share only what you choose with people or AI — with auditable permissions.
Can I self-host TOPOS?
Yes. TOPOS is open source. You can install it on your own infrastructure with unlimited source installs and app connections on the self-hosted track.
Should I run TOPOS on my own device?
We recommend it. A TOPOS node is a Topos Database and Topos Engine in one process — your data, context, permissions, and compute stay under your control, and running it on your own device keeps that control closest to you. If you'd rather not self-host, we run a hosted node for you.
How do third-party apps integrate with TOPOS?
Developers register an app in the Dialogues Control Plane, implement Grant Access (OAuth PKCE), and write data via scoped ingest. Start with Register your app and Add Dialogues auth.