AI
Self-hosted AI assistant
An optional AI assistant that runs a local model on your own server, so no school data is sent to a third-party model provider.
Available, configured at deployment
The AI assistant in Schoolyi runs a local model on the same infrastructure as the application. It is optional, off unless enabled, and when enabled it does not send school data to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or any other model provider, because there is no call to one.
That design choice costs capability. A locally hosted small model is not as strong as a frontier hosted model, and we would rather say that plainly than imply otherwise. What it buys is a defensible answer to the question a board will ask, which is where the children’s data goes.
What it does: staff help grounded in the platform’s own documentation, drafting assistance for notices, and a learning studio for students and parents. Its scope is the school’s own context rather than open-ended chat.
How it works
- A separate worker process hosts the model and is reached over the local network with a shared token.
- The operator enables the worker at deployment; a platform administrator then enables the assistant per school.
- Retrieval is grounded in platform documentation and the school’s own permitted context, so answers cite something rather than inventing it.
- No outbound call to a hosted model provider exists in the product code.
Who configures it
The worker is enabled and pointed at a model by whoever operates the deployment. A platform administrator then turns the assistant on for the school in AI settings. Off by default.
What it does not do
Worth reading before a procurement decision rather than after.
- A local model is materially less capable than a hosted frontier model. If your expectation is set by a consumer chat product, calibrate downwards.
- It needs server resources. On a small deployment this is a real capacity decision rather than a free feature.
- External Model Context Protocol servers cannot be connected. The MCP configuration surface exists and validates, but there is no runtime client for external servers; the built-in tools are in-process and read-only.
- No cloud model provider integration exists, so a school that wants a frontier model cannot have one here.
Related
Self-hosted AI assistant: common questions
Including the questions where the answer is no.
Does any student data leave our server?+
Not to a model provider, because there is no call to one in the product code. The model runs on your infrastructure. This is the whole reason for the design, and it is the answer worth having when a board or a data protection officer asks.
Is it as good as ChatGPT?+
No. A small locally hosted model is meaningfully less capable, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. It is useful for grounded help and drafting within the school context. It is not a frontier assistant.
Do we have to use it?+
No. It is off unless an operator enables the worker and an administrator enables it for the school. A school with a policy against AI tooling simply leaves it off, and nothing else in the platform depends on it.
Everything else
Other integrations, and the ones we do not have
The hub lists what is available and names what is not.
Bring your stack to a walkthrough
Tell us what you already run and which handoffs cost your team time. That is a more useful conversation than a compatibility list.
Already using Schoolyi? Sign in