Backyard AI

Backyard AI’s normal cloud service has ended; November 2, 2026 is the date its shutdown notice was observed, not a confirmed cutoff.

Companions & roleplay · Closed; date inferred · 2 Nov 2026 · Observed closed by · Not the verified service cutoff · Ahoy Labs, Inc.

The record

A character-based AI roleplay and interactive-story service, formerly Faraday.dev, with cloud chat and a previously supported local desktop app.

Operator at shutdown: Ahoy Labs, Inc. Company source
Service end: Closed; date inferred · 2 Nov 2026Observed closed by · Not the verified service cutoffClosure source

Verification notes

Shutdown: The official homepage says Backyard has shut down and normal cloud features and new accounts are closed. It offers an archive request until November 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific and downloads until November 6 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. These are export deadlines, not shutdown or announcement dates. The displayed November 2 is an explicitly labeled observation proxy: the actual final cutoff, announcement day, hour and time zone are unknown. This record covers the named hosted character-chat service and its web/mobile entrances; the old local desktop app was previously deprecated, and its offline functionality is not asserted to have stopped. Faraday.dev is its former name, not a separate product. San Francisco is the operator’s sourced SEC filing city fallback, not an asserted server or team location. Closure source
Dates checked: Verified 2 Nov 2026
AI functionality: AI functionality source
Launch: The first public release date is unknown. The team’s 2024 rebrand announcement confirms the earlier Faraday.dev identity but does not state a first release day.
Location: United States · San Francisco. Ahoy Labs identifies itself in the product terms; its own SEC filing lists San Francisco as issuer address. This is a sourced company filing-city fallback, not a claim about server or team location. Coordinates are rounded GeoNames locality points. Location source · Coordinate source