Pia — Personal Intelligence Assistant

A personal AI assistant built by Buining Design — available as a Progressive Web App and browser extension, designed to help you think, plan, and work smarter every day.

AI PWA Browser Extension React Personal Productivity Automation

About the Project

Pia is Buining Design's own AI product — a personal intelligence assistant that lives in your browser and on your phone. The idea was simple: instead of jumping between ChatGPT, Google, your notes app, and your calendar, Pia brings intelligent assistance into one place that's always a click away.

We built Pia for people who want the benefits of AI without the friction. No complicated prompts, no subscriptions to five different tools. Just a smart, responsive assistant that learns your preferences and helps you get things done.

What We Built

Progressive Web App

Install Pia on any device — phone, tablet, desktop — directly from the browser. No app store required, works offline for core features.

Browser Extension

The Pia extension sits in your browser toolbar and gives you instant AI assistance on any page you're visiting.

Conversation Memory

Pia remembers context across conversations so you don't have to re-explain who you are or what you're working on every time.

Workflow Automation

Connect Pia to your tools and let it handle routine tasks — drafting emails, summarising content, or organising information.

The Technology Stack

Pia is built on React 18 with Vite, Tailwind CSS, and Framer Motion for smooth animations. The PWA uses vite-plugin-PWA for offline support and installability. The backend runs on PHP with a MySQL database, handling authentication, user preferences, and AI API calls through a secure proxy layer.

The browser extension shares the same React codebase as the PWA, compiled separately with a Vite extension build configuration. This means a single codebase, two delivery formats.

Design Decisions

We wanted Pia to feel different from the typical AI chat interface — less like a terminal, more like a thoughtful colleague. The dark-first design with subtle gradients and fluid animations gives it a premium feel without being flashy. Every interaction is designed to be as fast as possible: the extension opens in under 200ms, and responses stream in real time.

What Makes Pia Different

Most AI tools are general-purpose and require you to adapt to them. Pia is designed around your workflow. It's small enough to be always-on, fast enough to be useful mid-task, and smart enough to reduce the time you spend context-switching between tools.

Try it yourself — visit pia-app.online to open the app or install the extension.