Pal Engine - Desktop Companion

Pal Engine — Your Living 3D Desktop Companion

Pal Engine puts an expressive 3D VRM character on your desktop — always on top, draggable across monitors, and built to feel like company, not a chat tab.

What makes a character? The VRM model is appearance. The AI model is an agentic assistant. What ties them into your character is what you configure: name, gender, personality, interests, recent chat history (configurable limit for local models), stored memory facts, and custom animations you can describe so the AI knows when to use them.

Import custom VRM characters, add Mixamo FBX or VRMA animations, and attach custom props (Three.js objects supported in-app — not an outfit or wardrobe system). Talk by text or voice with Pal Engine Cloud or local AI (LM Studio, Ollama). Speech-to-text and text-to-speech (Piper, Kokoro, plus integrations) keep conversations hands-free when you want them.

Double-click your character for the overlay menu (with customizable keybindings). Drag and drop anywhere, snap to screen corners with customized snap animations, and react through body-part interactions that play animations. Browse the character store — official Pal Engine characters, community-shared content, and easy VRoid Hub import for eligible models. Photo Booth helps you compose sweet art shots of your companions.

Pal Engine is in Early Access. Development focuses on better communication between you and your character — finer AI behavior, richer context, and more expressive reactions. We need time and your feedback to get there.

Key Features

Characters & content

• Custom VRM character support (built-ins, store, local import, VRoid Hub)
• Character store — Pal Engine official, community catalog, VRoid integration
• Personal details per character: name, gender, personality, interests
• Recent chat history (configurable for local models) and stored memory facts
• Custom animations — Mixamo FBX or VRMA; describe them so AI knows when to play them
• Custom props — attach Three.js objects (props, not outfits or wardrobe slots)

Desktop presence

• Frameless always-on-top character window
• Drag and drop placement, multi-monitor, scale / rotate / fine-tune
• Snap to screen corners with customized snap animations
• Character overlay menu on double-click — quick actions with customizable keybinding

Chat & AI

• Full client chat + overlay mini-chat
• Pal Engine Cloud AI chat
• Local AI — LM Studio, Ollama, and compatible setups
• Chat history sync with your Pal Engine account
• Ongoing work: smarter behavior, animation-aware replies, richer memory use

VIP cloud tools (active subscription)

• Pal's Web Access — grounded web search in cloud chat (VIP members)
• Pal's Canvas — simple AI image generation in cloud chat (VIP members; intentionally lightweight, not a full art-studio replacement)
• Standalone VIP tool modals — optional context from chat history or character personality
• Coming soon: web search and image generation for local AI integrations (LM Studio, Ollama, and compatible setups)

Voice

• Voice chat with visual voice orb (listen / think / speak)
• Speech-to-text (local)
• Text-to-speech — Piper, Kokoro, and optional integrations
• Per-character voice assignment & preview

Interaction & animation

• Body-part click reactions — assign animations to head, hands, etc.
• Mixamo-style actions, idles, dances, talking animations
• Random idle & random dance pools per character
• Facial expressions with presets and per-animation assignments
• Ambient companion activity when not in active chat (behavior layer)

Photo Booth

• Stage characters with backgrounds, props, lighting, and poses
• Capture showcase art of your companions

Integrations (early)

• Third-party app communication prototype — developers can start building tools that talk to Pal Engine

Platform

• Steam sign-in, Pal Points, store & catalog
• Community feedback drives the roadmap

What's next (Early Access roadmap)

We're also working on web search and image generation for local AI integrations (coming soon), plus longer-term plans: work assistant via MCP, smart-home control, opt-in desktop vision, Live2D support (26Q3), desktop wallpaper mode (26Q4), Mac & Linux, and more.

Pal Engine, your desktop with personality