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# Thunderbolt Wants to Do for AI Clients What Thunderbird Did for Email
- URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/thunderbolt-launch/
- Published: 2026-04-19T12:08:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-19T12:08:58.000Z
- Description: This self-hostable enterprise AI client lets you bring your own models and keep your data off third-party servers.
- Author: Sourav Rudra
- Tags: News

MZLA Technologies Corporation, the Mozilla Foundation subsidiary behind [Thunderbird](https://thunderbird.net/?ref=itsfoss.com), has announced [Thunderbolt](https://www.thunderbolt.io/announcing-thunderbolt?ref=itsfoss.com), an open source, self-hostable AI client for organizations that want to run AI on their own infrastructure.

The project is funded through investment from [Mozilla](https://www.mozilla.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) and is **a standalone product**, separate from Thunderbird, built by a different team within MZLA that's focused on enterprise AI products.

Offered under **Mozilla Public License 2.0**, Thunderbolt offers an AI workspace where users can interact with AI through chat, search, and research, connect to enterprise data, and choose the models and tools that fit their needs.

It runs natively on **Linux**, **Windows**, **macOS**, **iOS**, and **Android**, with a web client also being made available.

## A thing to note…

You should know that **Thunderbolt ships with telemetry on by default**.

According to the project's [telemetry documentation](https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbolt/blob/main/TELEMETRY.md?ref=itsfoss.com) on GitHub, it uses [PostHog](https://posthog.com/?ref=itsfoss.com) to collect usage data covering chat activity, model selections, settings changes, and location information. 

This can be switched off in settings, and the project states no [personally identifiable information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal%5Fdata?ref=itsfoss.com) (PII) is collected without explicit consent.

## Who is it for?

The **intended audience** for this could be organizations with strict data residency or compliance requirements. So think healthcare providers, legal firms, and financial institutions that cannot afford sensitive internal data flowing through third-party AI services.

As for its competition, Thunderbolt is a direct challenge to [Microsoft Copilot](https://copilot.microsoft.com/?ref=itsfoss.com), [ChatGPT Enterprise](https://chatgpt.com/business/enterprise/?ref=itsfoss.com), and [Claude Enterprise](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9797531-what-is-the-enterprise-plan?ref=itsfoss.com). In the open source space, it sits alongside tools like [Open WebUI](https://openwebui.com/?ref=itsfoss.com) and [LibreChat](https://www.librechat.ai/?ref=itsfoss.com), both of which offer [self-hosted AI frontends](https://itsfoss.com/ollama-web-ui-tools/).

Announcing Thunderbolt, the CEO of MZLA Technologies Corporation, [Ryan Sipes](https://ryanleesipes.me/?ref=itsfoss.com), added that:

> AI is too important to outsource. With Thunderbolt, we’re giving organizations a sovereign AI client that allows them to decide how AI fits into their workflows – on their infrastructure, with their data, and on their terms.

## What can you expect?

![this multi-colored (white, yellow, purple, pink) banner shows some screenshots of thunderbolt running on a laptop and smartphone](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/04/thunderbolt-marketing-banner.png)

Thunderbolt **connects to frontier models** from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Mistral, handles local inference through [Ollama](https://itsfoss.com/ollama/), and accepts custom providers, with the workspace offering *Chat* and *Search* modes.

It can also handle **scheduled work**, pulling together briefings, tracking topics over time, or kicking off actions when set conditions are met.

deepset's [Haystack](https://haystack.deepset.ai/?ref=itsfoss.com) integration ties the client into enterprise agent and [RAG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrieval-augmented%5Fgeneration?ref=itsfoss.com) pipelines within the same architecture, whereas [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/?ref=itsfoss.com) (Model Context Protocol) support is in preview, and [ACP](https://agentcommunicationprotocol.dev/?ref=itsfoss.com) (Agent Client Protocol) is in active development with an [April 2026 target](https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbolt/blob/main/docs/roadmap.md?ref=itsfoss.com).

## How to get it?

You can get started with Thunderbolt by visiting [thunderbolt.io](https://www.thunderbolt.io/?ref=itsfoss.com). Organizations interested in enterprise deployment, professional support, or custom development [can get in touch with the team](https://www.thunderbolt.io/contact?ref=itsfoss.com).

As for the source code, it lives on [GitHub](https://github.com/Thunderbird/thunderbolt?ref=itsfoss.com). 

[Thunderbolt](https://www.thunderbolt.io/?ref=itsfoss.com)

Other than that, the [FAQ](https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbolt/blob/main/docs/faq.md?ref=itsfoss.com) does mention that a **Thunderbolt version for regular users** is on the cards, but there's no release date for it yet.