Private models built into Thunderbolt, powered by Tinfoil

Thunderbolt is a self-hosted, open source AI workspace where you can connect any model, agent or tool without being tied to a particular vendor. One of its main goals is to give people and organizations more control over how they use AI.

With privacy being such an important part of Thunderbolt, we wanted to offer at least one model option that provides stronger privacy protections than simply relying on a provider’s policies.

That’s where Tinfoil comes in. Tinfoil runs models inside secure hardware enclaves, which means neither Thunderbird nor Tinfoil can see your conversations. This protection is built into the hardware itself, rather than relying on a privacy policy alone.

Organizations that self-host Thunderbolt can use this option today by setting up their own Tinfoil account and connecting it to their deployment. This gives teams a private model option alongside any other models and tools they’ve connected.

“Thunderbolt exists so people and organizations can own their AI stack instead of renting it. Tinfoil lets us ship models that work the moment you open the app, with a hardware guarantee that nobody, including us, can see what you send.”

– Ryan Sipes, CEO, Thunderbird

Read more about the partnership on Tinfoil’s site, and try Thunderbolt through our docs and GitHub.