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AI Features

Some of Alcove's cleanup tools can ask an AI model for suggestions. The model only proposes: every change is shown to you first, and nothing is applied until you accept it.

What Uses AI

A few of the tools that do:

  • Suggest Tags (Book menu) proposes tags for books from their descriptions.
  • Merge Duplicate Tags and Merge Duplicate Authors (Library menu) find names that mean the same thing written differently, such as "Sci-Fi" and "Science Fiction".
  • Fix Series (Library menu) can read book descriptions to find the series a book belongs to, and look up missing series numbers.
  • Importing a PDF can read the title, author and other details from its first pages when the file's own metadata is missing.

Others use it too. Each tool says which model it's using before it starts.

Which Model Alcove Uses

Alcove uses the best model available to it, in this order:

  1. Alcove Plus, if you subscribe.
  2. Your own provider, if you've set up Cloud AI with your own API key.
  3. Apple Intelligence on Private Cloud Compute — on macOS 27 and iPadOS 27, on devices with Apple Intelligence. Free, and Apple's servers keep your data private.
  4. Apple Intelligence on this device — on macOS 26 and iPadOS 26, on devices with Apple Intelligence. Free, and nothing leaves the device.

If Plus can't answer, because of a network problem or because this month's AI allowance is used up, Alcove goes on to the next model in the list.

If you have both Plus and your own provider, Prefer my own key in Settings → AI uses your provider instead of Plus. Use on-device AI only skips everything but the model on this device.

A device with none of these can't run the AI tools; Alcove offers Alcove Plus or Cloud AI instead.

Your Privacy

To make suggestions, Alcove sends the model only the book information that tool needs, such as titles, authors, series, descriptions and tag names. The privacy policy lists what each tool sends. Your books' contents, reading progress, ratings and notes are never sent. The one exception is a PDF: to read its title and author, Alcove sends text from its first few pages.

  • Apple Intelligence runs on your device, or on Private Cloud Compute, which Apple designs so that no one, including Apple, can see your data.
  • Cloud AI sends the information to the provider you chose, using your own key. Alcove doesn't store it or have access to it. The first time, Alcove asks before sending anything.
  • Alcove Plus sends it to Alcove's own service, which doesn't keep it. Merge Duplicate Tags is answered by AI models on Cloudflare's network, where Alcove's service runs, so the tag names aren't passed to any other company. Simplify Tags and Merge Duplicate Authors try those models first. The other tools may pass the information on to OpenAI or Anthropic, which don't train on it and may keep it for up to 30 days to detect abuse. The first time one of those tools runs, Alcove asks before sending anything. See the privacy policy.

To keep everything on your device, turn on Use on-device AI only in Settings → AI.

Settings

AI settings are in Settings → AI on both Mac and iPad: Use on-device AI only, Prefer my own key, and the Cloud AI provider, key and model. Each is described in Settings → AI.

Cloud AI

Cloud AI lets Alcove's AI tools use your own AI account instead of Apple's models. It's a one-time purchase in the Alcove Store. You pay the provider directly for what you use, at their rates. It doesn't include ISBNdb lookups, which come with Alcove Plus.

Custom and Local Models

You aren't limited to the big providers:

  • Any model your provider offers. After you add your key, the Model menu lists every model the provider makes available to you.
  • Models on your own computer. Choose LM Studio or Ollama to use a model running on your Mac or another computer on your network. Nothing is sent to a cloud service, and no key is needed. With Use on-device AI only on, a model running on this device is still allowed.
  • Other servers. Choose Custom… and enter the server's address to use any service that works like OpenAI's, such as OpenRouter or your own server.

Small local models make more mistakes than large ones. You review every suggestion either way, but a larger model leaves less to reject.

Alcove Plus

Alcove Plus is a subscription that makes lookups and AI work better:

  • ISBNdb, a large commercial book database, is added to Look Up Metadata, cover searches and Fix Series, and is searched first. It finds many books the free sources don't.
  • Large batches: Open Library limits how many books apps can look up at once, so free batch lookups stop at 50 books. With Plus, batches use ISBNdb instead.
  • AI on any device: Alcove's AI tools use Alcove's own AI service, which works on devices that can't use Apple Intelligence, older Macs and iPads included. A monthly allowance covers ordinary use; Alcove tells you as it nears the end.

A Family plan shares Plus with up to five family members. Subscribe in the Alcove Store: choose Alcove → Alcove Store… (Mac) or Alcove Store… from the sidebar ⋯ menu (iPad).