Plain-AyI
← All projects
Run AI on your computer

apfel

Lets you use the AI model built into newer Macs from the command line or other apps, fully offline.

New this week

What it does

Newer Apple Silicon Macs come with a built-in AI language model as part of Apple Intelligence. apfel makes that model easy to use as a command-line tool, an interactive chat, or a local server that other AI apps can connect to.

Its makers say everything runs on your Mac with no API keys and no cloud. You can ask questions, summarize files, read text from PDFs and images, and get answers as code or JSON.

It needs a recent version of macOS, an Apple Silicon Mac and Apple Intelligence turned on.

Who it's for

Mac users and developers who want free, private AI on their own computer.

Can I use it without coding?

With some setup. It installs with the Homebrew package manager and runs in the Terminal. New to this? Start here.

Can I run it?

Cost
FreeNothing to pay or sign up for.
Runs on
Mac
Computer
An ordinary computer is fine
Privacy
Runs on your own device: your data stays with you
API key
Not needed

Try it

  1. Check that your Mac has Apple Silicon, a recent macOS and Apple Intelligence turned on.
  2. Install apfel using the Homebrew package manager.
  3. Ask it a question in the Terminal, or start its chat mode.

Using Claude Code, Cursor or another AI coding assistant? Paste the prompt and it will walk you through the setup.New to this?

Before you install

  • Only download from the official GitHub page. Copies with similar names exist for many popular projects.
  • License (MIT): Very permissive: free to use, change and share, including for business.
  • More on staying safe

Where people are talking about it