GPT–LLM native macOS app with time travel, versioning, search
Hey everyone! I made a Mac app for exploring large language models. It’s fast, small, has a tiny memory footprint. It’s immutable by design with both immediate time travel and automatic versioning as foundational elements. The app is written in Swift and a bit of Rust for the tokenizer. I used SwiftUI for structure and animations and Cocoa for advanced behavior. All storage is SQLite and local-only. You can go through the database as needed and backup it as well. The app has support for variants, which is the `n` parameter in the OpenAI chat completion API—equivalent to the drafts feature in…
GPT–LLM native macOS app with time travel, versioning, search launched on April 11, 2023 with 12 votes, #1,655 of 4,853 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.
In plain words
This macOS app lets users explore and experiment with large language models through an interface built in Swift and Rust. Designed for efficiency with a small memory footprint, it stores all data locally in SQLite and features time travel, automatic versioning, and variant generation to compare different model outputs. The app displays token counts and API costs, supports marking and hiding runs, and allows users to browse the history of conversations. It's built for anyone working with LLMs who wants fast, lightweight exploration with full control over their data.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey everyone! I made a Mac app for exploring large language models. It’s fast, small, has a tiny memory footprint. It’s immutable by design with both immediate time travel and automatic versioning as foundational elements. The app is written in Swift and a bit of Rust for the tokenizer. I used SwiftUI for structure…
Does a similar job
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I made an app to use local AI as daily driver2024 · recurse.chat · ▲637Hi Hackers, Excited to share a macOS app I've been working on: https://recurse.chat/ for chatting with local AI. While it's amazing that you can run AI models locally quite easily these days (through llama.cpp / llamafile / ollama / llm CLI etc.), I missed feature complete chat interfaces. Tools like LMStudio are super powerful, but there's a learning curve to it. I'd like to hit a middleground of simplicity and customizability for advanced users. Here's what separates RecurseChat out from similar apps: - UX designed for you to use local AI as a daily driver.…
SwiftAI – open-source library to easily build LLM features on iOS/macOS2025 · github.com · ▲74We built SwiftAI, an open-source Swift library that lets you use Apple’s on-device LLMs when available (Apple opened access in June), and fall back to a cloud model when they aren’t available — all without duplicating code. SwiftAI gives you: - A single, model-agnostic API - An agent/tool loop - Strongly-typed structured outputs - Optional chat state Backstory: We started experimenting with Apple’s local models because they’re free (no API calls), private, and work offline. The problem: not all devices support them (older iPhones, Apple Intelligence disabled, low battery, etc.). That…
Ollama – Run LLMs on your Mac2023 · github.com · ▲284Hi HN A few folks and I have been working on this project for a couple weeks now. After previously working on the Docker project for a number of years (both on the container runtime and image registry side), the recent rise in open source language models made us think something similar needed to exist for large language models too. While not exactly the same as running linux containers, running LLMs shares quite a few of the same challenges. There are "base layers" (e.g. models like Llama 2), specific configuration to run correctly (parameters, temperature, context window sizes etc). There's…
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- MGmacOS GUI for running LLMs locally2023 · avapls.com · ▲58
Hello HN, I've been working on this project for a while, and it has been in an "open" beta for some time. I finally believe it's ready for its first release. I hope you like it. Here are some potential questions that may arise: 1. How does it compare to LM Studio? It's likely that if you're already using LM Studio, you'll continue to do so. This project is designed to be more user-friendly. 2. Is it open-source? No, it is not. 3. Does it use any open-source libraries? Yes, it uses llama.cpp and a few others, as indicated in the license information included with the application. 4. Why is not…
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Hi HN, Today we’re launching GPT-4 answers on Phind.com, a developer-focused search engine that uses generative AI to browse the web and answer technical questions, complete with code examples and detailed explanations. Unlike vanilla GPT-4, Phind feeds in relevant websites and technical documentation, reducing the model’s hallucination and keeping it up-to-date. To use it, simply enable the “Expert” toggle before doing a search. GPT-4 is making a night-and-day difference in terms of answer quality. For a question like “How can I RLHF a LLaMa model”, Phind in Expert mode delivers a…
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