AIChat.app

AIChat.app - macOS applet to run large language models locally

AIChat.app allows opening a local GGUF file and start a chat in WebKit view.
Version 1.1 adds a Local Models browser with model selector dialog, and a Hugging Face browser for browsing, downloading, and starting models directly from the app.

The app uses llama-server from LLama.cpp project:
https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/

AIChat.app is self-contained with the exception of external GGUF files which can be downloaded from:
https://huggingface.co/models
or
https://www.modelscope.cn/models

After the initial setup no network is required to query the LLMs You can place a chosen GGUF file in applet's Contents/Resources and set AICHAT_MODEL_PATH in aichat.library.sh to make the applet with one model completely self-contained. Then, of course, you need to codesign the modified app.

llama-server comes with its own complete WebUI. The Contents/Resources/WebUI dir contains a slight modification of this UI to display AIChat.png image at landing page. llama-server is started locally from the app bundle with the following:

	webui_dir_path="$OMC_APP_BUNDLE_PATH/Contents/Resources/WebUI"
	"$OMC_APP_BUNDLE_PATH/Contents/Support/Llama.cpp/llama-server" --host 127.0.0.1 --port $port_num --path "$webui_dir_path" --model "$AICHAT_MODEL_PATH" &

Populating and Updating the App Bundle

The instructions below are needed only if you are cloning the repo and not running the pre-built notarized app from distribution archive.

The app bundle requires binaries that are excluded from git:

Llama.cpp Distribution (update-llama-cpp.sh)

Use the update-llama-cpp.sh script to download and install the latest (or specified) llama.cpp release:

./update-llama-cpp.sh                           # Auto-detect latest version and host architecture
./update-llama-cpp.sh --version=b8797           # Install specific version
./update-llama-cpp.sh --version=b8797 --arch=arm64  # Specify both version and architecture

The script will:

• Download the llama.cpp release from https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/releases
• Extract and install llama-server binary and all required dylibs to AIChat.app/Contents/Support/Llama.cpp/
• Update the WebUI (index.html, bundle.js, bundle.css) with AIChat customizations

Framework and Executable (AppletBuilder.app)

Use OMC's AppletBuilder.app to add the framework and executable binary:

• Abracode.framework → AIChat.app/Contents/Frameworks/
• AIChat → AIChat.app/Contents/MacOS/

These are managed separately from the llama.cpp distribution and should be added via AppletBuilder.app's workflow.

Binaries Excluded from Git

AIChat.app/Contents/MacOS:
AIChat

AIChat.app/Contents/Frameworks:
Abracode.framework

AIChat.app/Contents/Support/Llama.cpp:
llama-server
*.dylib

Sources:
https://github.com/abra-code/OMC/releases (OMCApplet, Abracode.framework)
https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/releases (llama-server, dylibs)