apfel
Arthur-Ficial
Expose the on-device Apple Intelligence model on macOS 26 as a zero-setup OpenAI-compatible local API.
What is apfel?
apfel wraps Apple's on-device Foundation Models framework (the ~3B model shipping with macOS 26 / Tahoe) as a CLI, REPL, and OpenAI-compatible HTTP server on localhost. No model download, no API key, no cloud. Supports tool calling, MCP, JSON output and nine languages.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Zero model download and zero cost - uses the model already baked into macOS 26
- OpenAI-compatible server, so existing integrations work unchanged
- MCP support and tool calling enable on-device agentic workflows
Cons
- Requires macOS 26 (Tahoe), only on developer betas at the time of writing
- 4,096-token context window is small versus most open-weight models
- Quality is bound by Apple's on-device ~3B model - not for complex reasoning
License
MIT (OSI-open)
When it is interesting
Developers on macOS 26 who want a fully offline, zero-cost LLM endpoint for prototyping and privacy-sensitive automation.
When it is too early
If you need macOS 15 support today, a larger context window, or stronger model quality.
Commercial alternative & related
- Commercial counterpart: OpenAI / Anthropic API
This repo featured in the 2026-07 edition of the Open-Source AI Radar.
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