# Yogurt Local Meeting Notes: Setup, Downloads and Privacy Limits

Frigade's free meeting-notes app runs locally, but model downloads and AI-app connections deserve a closer look before your first call.

By Paras Madan | 2026-11-12


Yogurt is Frigade's free, open-source desktop app for recording calls, transcribing them and producing AI meeting notes on your computer. No bot joins the meeting. The useful question is whether your laptop can run it comfortably, and whether the workflow you build around it actually keeps those notes local.

The [project repository](https://github.com/FrigadeHQ/yogurt) provides Mac, Windows and Linux downloads under an MIT license. This is a documentation-based setup guide, not a hands-on accuracy or performance review. There is enough detail in the published documentation to identify the important setup decisions without pretending to have measured transcription quality.

## Yogurt system requirements

Every supported computer needs at least 8 GB of memory. That minimum does not mean every feature works identically across platforms, or that every local model will fit.

| Platform | Published requirement | Installation format |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mac | Apple Silicon, macOS 14.4 or later | DMG, then move the app to Applications |
| Windows | x64, Windows 10 version 2004 or later | EXE installer |
| Linux | x64, Ubuntu 22.04 or compatible newer system, PulseAudio or PipeWire | AppImage |

Calendar access and reading speaker names from call apps are Mac-only features. The Windows installer is currently unsigned, according to the project's help page. If your organization requires signed software, treat that as a deployment constraint rather than something to casually work around. Download only from the project's [official releases](https://github.com/FrigadeHQ/yogurt/releases/latest), and follow your organization's software policy.

On Linux, an AppImage that will not open may need FUSE 2. The documentation distinguishes the `libfuse2` package on Ubuntu 22.04 from `libfuse2t64` on Ubuntu 24.04 and newer. GNOME also needs an AppIndicator extension for the tray icon. Check those dependencies before assuming the transcription engine is broken.

## Finish the model downloads before relying on offline notes

The first launch downloads the required models. On Windows and Linux, setup also measures transcription speed and stops if the computer cannot keep up. A failed speed check is a hardware-readiness problem to resolve before a real meeting, not a reason to assume recording will somehow work later.

There are two different readiness states. Recording becomes available once setup finishes, while the notes model can continue downloading in the background. Notes and questions work offline once that model has arrived. **A working record button does not establish that offline summarization is ready.**

The [official help documentation](https://github.com/FrigadeHQ/yogurt/blob/main/docs/README.md) says Yogurt first downloads a smaller notes model, then the best one the computer can run. Its examples are substantial: about 14 GB on a Mac with 64 GB of memory, and about 63 GB on a Mac with 96 GB or more. These are download-size examples, not minimum RAM requirements.

That changes the practical setup plan. Install on a reliable connection with disk space available, rather than ten minutes before a call on a mobile hotspot. More memory can lead to a much larger model download, so a powerful laptop does not necessarily mean a quicker first run.

## Check both sides of the audio before the first meeting

On Mac, Yogurt needs microphone access for your voice and call-audio access for the other side. macOS groups the latter under Screen & System Audio Recording. Yogurt's Settings provides buttons to open the relevant system permission panes.

Calendar, Notifications and Accessibility permissions are optional. Calendar supplies meeting titles and attendees, Notifications can offer to take notes when a call starts, and Accessibility reads speaker names from supported call apps. Recording still waits for your click.

A sensible first-use check is a short, non-sensitive call with someone who agrees to the recording. Confirm that the transcript includes both speakers, then compare its summary with what you actually said. For example, agree that a launch date is tentative and that nobody owns the migration yet. If the summary turns either into a firm commitment, you have found a review requirement before involving a customer. This is a suggested check, not a test result.

Bot-free recording makes the interface less intrusive, but it also removes a visible participant that might otherwise remind people they are being recorded. Tell participants, obtain any required consent and follow workplace rules before recording.

## Where Yogurt's local privacy promise ends

The project says audio, transcripts, notes and questions are processed locally, meetings are not uploaded, and there is no telemetry. It still connects to the internet for Hugging Face model downloads, optional Apple on-device speech assets and GitHub update checks. Updates download in the background and install when the app quits.

The more consequential exception is Settings → AI apps. This enables a local MCP server, through which another AI application can read meetings, notes and transcripts. Access is off by default and read-only, but that other application may send what it reads to its own online model.

**Read-only access can still disclose the contents of a meeting.** It prevents the connected application from modifying Yogurt's records; it does not require the application to process them on your laptop. If local processing is the reason you chose Yogurt, leave this connection off until you have checked the receiving application's data handling and your permission to share the material.

## Back up notes without forgetting what the backup contains

Settings → Backup exports meetings and audio together in a ZIP file after recording has stopped. Meetings in the Trash are excluded. Importing adds missing meetings while leaving existing ones unchanged, and backups work across the three supported platforms.

Treat that ZIP as meeting data, not a harmless preferences file. Copying or exporting does not itself upload anything, but placing the resulting file in a shared folder changes who can access it. Uninstalling Yogurt also leaves its data behind, so removing the app is not a deletion policy.

Yogurt is worth evaluating when you want personal meeting notes without making cloud processing the default. The trade is responsibility: your machine supplies the compute, you manage the downloads and backups, and you decide where the transcript goes next. The strongest local workflow is the one that stays understandable after you connect other tools to it.

I'm Paras. I work at the intersection of AI, engineering and distribution.

I help technical teams explain products, privacy tradeoffs and practical workflows in content developers can use.

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