A native GTK 4 and libadwaita desktop client for District AI, the AI voice receptionist from Distronode.
Status: 3.2.0 is the current release, as a .deb and a Flatpak bundle for x86_64, both with calls, on the Releases page (see Install). Calls on the desktop need a build with the
voicefeature, as both packages are; a default build from source has everything else, and says so where calls would be.
Links: project page, GitLab mirror (read-only mirror; issues and pull requests live on GitHub), CHANGELOG.
District AI answers a business's phone calls with an AI receptionist. This app brings a District AI workspace to the Linux desktop:
- Calls: the call log, each call's summary and transcript, and calls updating live as they happen.
- Inbox: the workspace's text messages and emails, read and answered from the desktop, with a reply written by AI when you ask for one.
- Contacts: the workspace's contacts, and the callers it has blocked.
- Calls on the desktop, in a build with calls, as the packages are: a call handed to you rings on this computer, even with the window closed (the app keeps running, with a tray icon where the desktop has a tray, until you quit, and can start at login), a dialler places your own without picking up a phone, the call's live transcript shows under it, and meeting rooms are joined the same way, audio only.
- The rest of the workspace: District HQ, analytics, the Desk, support requests, workflows, booking pages and their sections (the overview, event types, hours, bookings, calendars, team, settings and developer settings, each managed in the app), billing (read only), and the phone numbers: routing reapplied, a number released, a paid lookup, and the carrier tab (accounts, SIP trunks, one-time passcodes, the A2P 10DLC and toll-free registrations). Buying a number stays on the web.
- Workspace settings: District Studio, the receptionist's settings as the web console groups them: Persona, Voice (recipes, the signal chain part by part, the time to first word and where each part is processed), Call handling (where it transfers calls and how calls are routed), Skills and Knowledge. Then the workspace's carrier accounts and members, as far as your role allows.
You need a District AI account to use it, and taking or placing calls needs a role that allows them. See https://www.distronode.com.
Without an account with us. Today this app needs a District AI account to sign in. We want the District AI apps to work without an account with us too. We have not worked out what that looks like or whether it can work, and the answer depends on what people would use them with, so we are asking before we build anything: tell us what you would connect them to.
| Platform | Status |
|---|---|
| Linux x86_64 with GTK 4.14 and libadwaita 1.5 or newer (Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, and newer) | The target: a .deb and a Flatpak (see Install). |
| Other Linux architectures | Not yet. |
| macOS, Windows | Not targeted. |
| Languages | English, and Canadian French on a desktop set to French (any French locale). |
GTK 4.14 and libadwaita 1.5 are the floor because they are what Ubuntu 24.04 ships; Debian 13 ships newer. The Flatpak brings its own runtime (GNOME 51) and so does not depend on the distribution's versions.
The current release is 3.2.0. It carries two packages for x86_64, both with calls. Both link this project's own build of libwebrtc for calls, which leaves out the H.264 and H.265 codecs and FFmpeg (see NOTICE).
-
district-ai_3.2.0-1_amd64.deb, for Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13 and newer. Install it with apt, which also installs what it depends on:sudo apt install ./district-ai_3.2.0-1_amd64.debIt depends on GTK 4, libadwaita, GTK's media backend and the GStreamer plugins that play the ringtone, and the PulseAudio client library for a call's audio. It recommends a keyring (GNOME Keyring, KWallet or KeePassXC) to keep your sign-in, the desktop portals, and a PulseAudio server (PipeWire's
pipewire-pulse, which most desktops already run) for calls. -
district-ai_3.2.0_x86_64.flatpak, for any distribution with Flatpak. It needs the Flathub remote, from which Flatpak fetches its runtime:flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install --user ./district-ai_3.2.0_x86_64.flatpakIt runs sandboxed, with the network, your display, the GPU, PulseAudio, logind (to know when the computer goes to sleep) and the desktop's tray (for its icon while the window is closed), and nothing else. Your keyring, notifications, links and files go through the desktop portals, so your desktop needs xdg-desktop-portal and a backend for it, as most do.
Each package comes with a signed attestation of the build that made it, which you can check with the GitHub CLI:
gh attestation verify district-ai_3.2.0-1_amd64.deb --repo distronode-corporation/district-linux
The attestation is also attached to the release as
district-ai_<version>.intoto.jsonl, so you can check a download against that
file rather than GitHub's attestation store by adding
--bundle district-ai_<version>.intoto.jsonl to that command.
Requirements: Rust 1.92 or newer (via rustup; the repository pins the stable channel) and the GTK 4 and libadwaita development files.
Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, Debian 13 or newer:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential pkg-config libgtk-4-dev libadwaita-1-dev
build-essential provides the C compiler and linker that Rust and the TLS library
need. No OpenSSL is needed: HTTPS is rustls.
Then:
git clone https://github.com/distronode-corporation/district-linux
cd district-linux
cargo build --release --locked
./target/release/district-ai
The build fetches the app's shared core, District AI core for Rust, from GitHub at the tag and commit Cargo.toml and Cargo.lock pin, as it fetches every other crate.
That build has no calls. Building with them (the voice feature) links
libwebrtc and needs clang 21 or newer; CONTRIBUTING.md
has the steps.
Signing in opens your browser, which hands the result back through a
districtai:// link. For the browser to find the app, the desktop entry has to
be installed. The packages install it; for a build from source,
CONTRIBUTING.md says how to install it for
your user.
Without a keyring (GNOME Keyring, KeePassXC or another Secret Service), the app works but keeps your sign-in only until it quits, and says so.
- CONTRIBUTING.md: the layout, the local checks CI runs, and the commit message rule. The data types, the API client, sign-in, the application state and the call engine live in District AI core for Rust, which this app pins by tag; changes to them go there.
- SECURITY.md: report vulnerabilities privately through GitHub's private vulnerability reporting, not in a public issue. It also describes the sign-in and token design.
- CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md: everyone taking part is expected to follow it.
- SUPPORT.md: where questions, bugs and product support go.
Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE and NOTICE. Third-party dependencies keep their own licences; NOTICE says where their texts are.
District AI, Distronode and the District AI and Distronode logos and app icons are trademarks of Distronode Corporation. They are not licensed under the Apache License 2.0: a build you distribute must use its own name, icon and identifier.
This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by LiveKit, the GNOME project or Flathub.