Apfel: Command Line Access to Your Mac's Hidden AI Powerhouse

Every Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 26+ has a powerful LLM built-in through Apple Intelligence. But it's locked behind Siri and system features. Apfel changes that – a Swift-powered CLI tool and OpenAI-compatible server that puts this 4096-token model at your fingertips.

Zero Cost, Zero Cloud, 100% Local

No API keys. No subscriptions. No per-token billing. Your model, your machine, your data stays private.

# Instant answers
apfel "Capital of Austria?"

# Pipe-friendly
cat README.md | apfel "Summarize this project"

# File attachments
git diff | apfel -f conventions.md "Review this diff"

# OpenAI server
apfel --serve
curl http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions ...

Production-Ready Features

• File attachments: -f file.swift "Explain this code"
• MCP tool calling: --mcp calculator.py "15 × 27?"
• JSON output: -o json for scripting
• Streaming: --stream token-by-token
• Context strategies: Auto-trims 4096-token window
• Interactive chat: --chat with history management

Killer Demos Included

demo/cmd – Natural language to shell commands:

cmd "find all .log files modified today"
# → find . -name "*.log" -type f -mtime -1

cmd -x "show processes using port 3000"  # Executes after confirm

demo/oneliner – Complex pipes from English:

demo/oneliner "sum third column of CSV"
# → awk -F',' '{sum+=$3} END {print sum}'

One-Command Install

brew tap Arthur-Ficial/tap
brew install Arthur-Ficial/tap/apfel
apfel --update  # Self-update

OpenAI API Compatible

Drop-in replacement at localhost:11434. Full /v1/chat/completions support including streaming, tool calls, temperature control. Works with any OpenAI SDK.

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="http://localhost:11434/v1")
resp = client.chat.completions.create(model="apple-foundationmodel", ...)

Real-World Power Users

• Code review: git diff | apfel -f style-guide.md
• Git summaries: git show HEAD | apfel -f CHANGELOG.md
• Data extraction: apfel -f data.csv -o json "Top 5 rows"
• Shell automation: Natural language → shell commands
• Debugging: apfel-gui native SwiftUI inspector

Technical Excellence

• Swift 6.3+, macOS 26+ SDK
• No Xcode required – Command Line Tools only
• Homebrew self-update
• Comprehensive tests (unit + integration)
• MIT licensed, 1.7k GitHub stars

Apfel turns your Mac into an AI workstation. From shell scripting to production servers, it's the missing CLI interface for Apple Intelligence. Install it today and experience local AI without compromises.