AI Potluck
Product / UX / UI & API

Perplexica

ItzCrazyKns

Answer engine that returns answers with citations, pairing a bundled SearXNG metasearch layer with local or cloud models so queries stay on the machine the operator runs. It works with Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and offers web, academic, discussion, image and video search modes plus file-upload retrieval.

The project was renamed from Perplexica to Vane in 2026 and the old repository URL redirects. The slug here still reads Perplexica; the rename is an identity question, not an evidence one. Verified 2026-08-13 via the ItzCrazyKns/Vane repository.

Openness

5 high confidence
5.0
license
MIT(OSI)
source
public(github.com/ItzCrazyKns/Vane)
self-host
primary(single bundled Docker image)
core-gated
ungated

Fully OSI-licensed (MIT), complete source public, and self-hosting is the primary distribution route via a bundled Docker image - a genuinely open answer engine, with no premium tier or gated functionality found. The project has been quiet, though: the last commit and the last release both date from April 2026.

Adoption

2 medium confidence
2.0

Roughly 35k GitHub stars plus over 100k Docker pulls on the current itzcrazykns1337/vane image - genuine install volume rather than stars alone, but well below the millions, so mid-tier. The band is a lifetime average rather than a peak. Docker Hub reports 645,952 cumulative pulls on itzcrazykns1337/perplexica since 2025-03-20, which averages about 38,479 a month over 16.8 months and lands in 10K-100K. Calling the reach '100K+ Docker pulls' would read a cumulative six-figure total as though it were a monthly one and would put the record a band above what its own number supports. Treat the figure as a floor: a lifetime average understates a growing product. Docker is not among the declared artifacts here, so the figure lives in this note rather than in a counted signal. The successor image itzcrazykns1337/vane, registered 2026-03-09, stands at 284,672 cumulative pulls, roughly 55,000 a month over 5.2 months, which reaches the same 10K-100K band by a different route. Together the two images account for 931,112 lifetime pulls, and the floor caveat still applies.

Capability

4 medium confidence
4.0

Strong provider breadth, bundled metasearch, search modes, and file-upload RAG; loses a point for no built-in multi-user/auth and limited multimodal generation. Scoped to search-and-answer.

Verified 2026-08-13