How to install local AI on a Mac (step by step)

Five minutes. No account. That's what it takes to get a real AI running on your Mac. You download a signed app, drag it to Applications, and the first time you open it, it grabs a small model so you can chat offline. Below is the exact process with Outlier, the requirements you actually need, and one quick way to prove it's running on your machine.

Before you start: requirements

• An Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3, or M4). Intel is a hard no.
• macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer.
• 16 GB RAM is the sweet spot. The free tiers run fine here. Want bigger models? You'll want more.
• ~3 GB free disk for that first model. Add bigger tiers and it climbs.

Step by step

1. Download. Head to outlier.host and hit Download. You'll get a notarized .dmg (~150 MB).
2. Open the DMG and drag the Outlier app into your Applications folder.
3. Launch it. macOS Gatekeeper might ask you to confirm on that first open. The app's notarized, so just click Open.
4. First model download. On first launch the app grabs Nano (~2.4 GB) so it has something to run with. You need a connection for this part, once.
5. Start chatting. Type a prompt. That's it. You're running AI locally now, no account, no key.

Confirm it's actually local

Want proof it's on your Mac and not some server? Once the first model has finished downloading, turn off wifi and send a prompt. It answers anyway. Chat keeps working. So does model switching. So does project memory. All of it, offline.

Adding bigger models

The free Nano and Lite tiers handle everyday stuff just fine. Doing serious coding or chewing through documents? Switch to Core 27B, which wants a 24 GB+ Mac and downloads itself the first time you pick it. The biggest one, Plus 397B, needs a 64 GB+ Mac. Bigger model, bigger download. Watch your disk space.

Frequently asked questions