folk

folk is a personal AI friend you text the way you text anyone else. Instead of opening a browser tab and typing into a blank box, you get messages from it during the day: a nudge before the gym, a question about the essay you said you'd finish, a verse in the morning if you want one. The pitch here is accountability. Simple as that. The product is aimed at people who already know what they should do and need something to keep them honest about it.

Under the surface, each user gets their own isolated cloud computer plus a persistent memory graph. That combination is what separates an AI accountability friend from a plain chatbot. folk can run code, browse the web, and connect to your Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion, Strava, Canvas, and GitHub, and any MCP-compatible tool, then carry context between conversations. The company says it never trains models on your data.

The biggest limitation is worth stating up front. folk isn't a therapist, and it won't act like one. If something sounds serious, it points you to crisis resources and a real person. It also lives entirely inside messaging apps, so anyone who wants a dedicated dashboard or deep settings screen will find it thin. What you get instead is a habit tracker, a study partner, and a personal assistant that all share one thread and one memory.

Getting Started

1. Sign up on the folk website with your phone number, which also sets any regional pricing automatically.
2. Connect the accounts you want folk to see, like Gmail, Google Calendar, Strava, or Canvas.
3. Open your messaging app and text folk your first goal, such as "gym Mon/Wed/Fri at 7, ask me the night before."
4. Set the tone you want, from gentle to relentless, and pause it whenever you need a break.
5. Ask for anything else while you're there, like a price watch, a study lock-in, or a daily verse.