Dust vs Cabinet: an honest comparison
Dust builds AI assistants on top of the data in your existing tools. Cabinet gives agents a knowledge base you own: it shows your whole knowledge base and files, renders live apps and dashboards, and lets your team and its agents read and write it directly. Both run agents; the difference is where the knowledge lives.
Choose Cabinet if
- You want agents working against a knowledge base you own and can grep, not data locked in other tools.
- You want to self-host and keep the underlying files in your control.
- You want an authoring surface, embedded apps, and a terminal in the same place as your agents.
Stick with Dust if
- You want hosted assistants wired to many SaaS connectors quickly.
- You prefer a polished assistant-builder UI and do not need to own the underlying files.
Open source · self-hosted · bring your own AI
The core difference
Dust connects to your data. Cabinet gives agents data they own.
Dust is a strong platform for building AI assistants. It connects to your existing tools as data sources and lets you assemble assistants on top. The content stays in those tools; Dust orchestrates over it.
Cabinet inverts that. The knowledge base is the product: files on your disk that your team and its agents read and write directly. There is an editor to author it, live apps and dashboards to visualize it, and a terminal to work in, all on a substrate you own.
Both give you agents. Only one of them gives those agents a file-based brain you hold.
Where Cabinet wins
Three things Dust cannot do
A brain agents read and write
Dust connects to data that stays in your other tools. Cabinet agents work against Markdown files on your disk, authoring and updating the knowledge base itself, not just answering over a connector.
knowledge/
product/
spec.md
ops/
runbook.mdYou own the substrate
The files are yours: grep them, git them, back them up, self-host the whole thing. There is no version of your knowledge that only exists inside a vendor's platform.
Author, visualize, and run in one place
An editor, live web apps and dashboards, and a web terminal sit alongside your agents, where your team works together. Cabinet is a full workspace, not only an assistant builder.
Feature by feature
Cabinet vs Dust, side by side
The features that actually decide this, including the ones where Dust comes out ahead.
| Feature | Cabinet | Dust |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge you author and own as files | Included | Not included |
| Markdown on disk | Included | Not included |
| Self-hostedDust offers open-source components; the product is primarily hosted. | Included | Partial |
| Bring your own AI model keys | Included | Included |
| AI agents and assistants | Included | Included |
| Authoring / knowledge editor | Included | Not included |
| Visualize web apps and dashboards | Included | Not included |
| Web terminal | Included | Not included |
| Scheduled routines and heartbeats | Included | Partial |
| Git-backed version history | Included | Not included |
| Open sourceDust open-sources parts of its stack. | Included | Partial |
| Connectors to many SaaS tools | Partial | Included |
| Polished assistant-builder UI | Partial | Included |
| Audit log | Partial | Partial |
Being honest
When Dust is the better choice
- You want hosted AI assistants wired to many SaaS connectors as fast as possible.
- You do not need to own the underlying files or self-host the platform.
- You prefer a polished assistant-builder UI over a file-based system you run yourself.
From the field
IllustrativeDust got us assistants quickly, but our knowledge stayed scattered across the tools it connected to. Cabinet put the knowledge in one place we own, and the agents write to it directly.
Questions
Cabinet vs Dust, answered
Is Cabinet a Dust alternative?
Yes, for teams that want agents working against a knowledge base they own. Dust orchestrates assistants over your existing tools; Cabinet makes the knowledge base itself the product, as files on your disk that agents read and write.
Does Cabinet connect to my existing SaaS tools like Dust?
Dust's connector catalog is broader today. Cabinet's focus is owning the knowledge as files, with agents authoring it, plus linked Git repos. Connectors are on the roadmap.
Can I self-host Cabinet and use my own models?
Yes. Cabinet self-hosts and routes inference through your own model keys, so your knowledge and your usage stay in your control.
Is Cabinet open source?
Yes, under the MIT license, so you can run, read, and fork the whole thing.
Own your knowledge. Keep your AI. Start free.
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