Intelligence in Outbound
Outbound's AI features, which ones run on your Mac, and what each one sends.
Outbound puts AI to work in five places. The Assistant answers questions about your network in plain language, the connection inspector and connection alerts can explain what a destination is for, the Analytics page can have its opening overview written by a model, and outside AI apps can read your figures and ask to change rules. Where the thinking happens, and whether anything leaves your Mac, is your choice, made in Settings › Intelligence.
Which features stay on the Mac
Section titled “Which features stay on the Mac”The Assistant and Explain in the inspector run on Apple Intelligence, the language model built into the Mac. With Apple Intelligence selected, typed questions and generated answers are processed on the Mac. See dictation for the separate speech-recognition behaviour. The Assistant’s own figures come from Outbound’s records on the same Mac.
Explain in the inspector uses Apple Intelligence only. Explain in a connection alert uses whoever answers in Settings › Intelligence: on Apple Intelligence it runs on this Mac, and with a coding agent or an API-key provider it first shows exactly what will be sent and waits for you to click Send.
The Assistant has one alternative: a coding agent you already have installed, such as Claude Code or Codex, answering on your own subscription. The agent reads Outbound’s figures through Outbound’s MCP tools. Its vendor or configured model provider receives your questions and the figures it reads. Enable “Answer with (agent)” in Intelligence settings to use it. The same agent can also write the Analytics overview.
Which features can use a cloud provider
Section titled “Which features can use a cloud provider”The short written overview at the top of the Analytics page can be written by a cloud model: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible server. Apple Intelligence writes it by default. For an Analytics overview, select the provider and enable “Send figures to (provider)”. Save a key if the provider requires one. A custom server on localhost can work without a key. A server on this Mac can use http://localhost; any other server needs HTTPS.
The API-key providers write Analytics overviews and alert explanations. Selecting one does not route Assistant questions to it: the Assistant uses Apple Intelligence unless an approved coding agent is selected.
What each feature sends
Section titled “What each feature sends”- Assistant, on Apple Intelligence: the typed question, records and generated answer are processed locally.
- Assistant, answered by a coding agent: your question, a summary of earlier turns when a session starts, and the figures its tools return go to the agent under your sign-in. The destination depends on the agent and its configured provider.
- Analytics overview, by a cloud model: one request containing totals, app names, website domains and countries for the range you are viewing. Never addresses, full host names, file paths, rules or what was sent. “Show What’s Sent…” shows that exact request before you agree.
- Explain in a connection alert, by a coding agent or cloud model: the alert’s facts, with the website domain rather than the full host name. You see the request first, and nothing is sent until you click Send.
- AI apps over MCP: nothing leaves by itself. The apps run on your Mac and read the same figures Analytics shows, never the contents of a connection. Their rule changes wait for your approval.
AI tools follow one disclosure rule. They see website domains, not full host names, unless you allow host names for AI apps. Addresses show as “address”, local names as “local network” and app paths as app names, and your user name is not included. What AI tools can see has the detail.
Checking the answers
Section titled “Checking the answers”Assistant answers undergo numeric checks before display and can be replaced by a records-based answer if those checks fail. This is not a guarantee that the prose is correct. Each answer names who wrote it, for example “Answered by Codex”, or “Answered by Outbound records” when it came from Outbound’s own records. Analytics overviews have their own numeric check. Connection explanations are generated advice and carry a warning that they can be wrong.
The on-device Assistant does not change rules. A coding agent answering in the Assistant can ask for a rule change through MCP; the approval rules still apply.
Where to change any of this
Section titled “Where to change any of this”Settings › Intelligence holds the “Answered by” picker, the provider keys, the coding agent switches and the “Rule changes” option. The visual experiments around the app, such as the globe and the notch island, live in Settings › Labs.