Lobe · GitHub | WarmIndex

Lobe is a free desktop application for Mac and PC that lets anyone train machine learning models for image classification without writing code.

🚀 Overview

Lobe was designed to make machine learning accessible to everyone by simplifying the traditionally complex process of training models into an intuitive, visual workflow. Users can collect and label images, train models with a single click, visualize performance, and export to production-ready formats—all running locally on their machine for privacy.

This project solves the problem of high barriers to entry in ML, where coding expertise, data science knowledge, and heavy compute resources are usually required. It's built for non-technical users like designers, educators, hobbyists, and even developers who want to prototype quickly without boilerplate.

The Microsoft team (after acquiring the startup) built it to democratize AI, empowering creators to bring ideas from prototype to production without needing PhDs or cloud costs.

✨ Key Features

Image collection and labeling: Drag-and-drop interface to organize and tag your dataset visually—no spreadsheets needed.
One-click training: Automatically trains models and provides confusion matrices, performance metrics, and suggestions to improve.
Model export: Ship to any platform with formats like TensorFlow.js, Core ML, ONNX, TensorFlow Lite for web, iOS, Android, edge devices.
Local privacy: Everything runs on your computer, no data leaves your device.

Optional: Starter projects for web, iOS integration.

🛠 Tech Stack

Frontend: C# / .NET (desktop app), TypeScript (web bootstraps)
Backend: Python (model training tools)
ML: TensorFlow, ONNX Runtime
Exports: TensorFlow.js, Core ML, TensorFlow Lite
Hosting: Local desktop app (no hosting needed)

👥 Who Is This For?

This project is useful for:

Beginners and hobbyists who want to experiment with AI image recognition.
Designers and product teams prototyping ML features.
Educators teaching computer vision concepts without code.

📸 Screenshots / Demo

Live demo: No longer available (app discontinued)
GitHub: https://github.com/lobe/lobe

🔥 Project Status

🔴 Paused

No longer under development. Repositories remain public for reference.

Last updated: 2024-02-01

❓ FAQ

Is this project free?

Yes (completely free and open-source.)

Is the source code available?

Yes — https://github.com/lobe (multiple repos including lobe/lobe, lobe.NET, lobe-python)

Can I contribute?

Although active development has stopped, you can still fork repositories, report issues, or submit pull requests for documentation improvements or bug fixes.