🍎 fruit-chat

April 6, 2026 · View on GitHub

Apple Intelligence in your browser. A premium, private, on-device AI chat powered by apfel and Apple's Foundation Models framework.

No API keys. No cloud. No subscriptions. Runs entirely on your Apple Silicon Mac.

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bhaskarvilles/fruit-chat/main/install.sh | bash

That's it. The script will:

Install apfel via Homebrew (Apple Intelligence CLI)
Install Node.js if needed
Download fruit-chat to ~/.fruit-chat
Register two LaunchAgents → auto-start on every login
Open http://localhost:4321 in your browser

Demo

macOS Demo

https://github.com/bhaskarvilles/fruit-chat/raw/main/public/product_video_demo/macos_video_demo.mov

Mobile / iPhone Demo

https://github.com/bhaskarvilles/fruit-chat/raw/main/public/product_video_demo/mobile_demo.MP4

Features

🔒 100% On-device — Apple Intelligence processes everything locally via FoundationModels
🌐 Any Apple Device — Access from Mac, iPhone, or iPad on your local network
⚡ Real-time Streaming — Tokens stream live as the model generates
🌙 Dark & Light Mode — Toggle between dark, light, and auto (system) themes
💾 Conversation History — All chats stored locally in your browser
⚙️ Configurable — System prompt, temperature, max tokens
🔄 Persistent Daemon — Auto-starts on every login/reboot via macOS LaunchAgents
📱 Responsive UI — Glassmorphism design optimised for Mac, iPad, and iPhone

Requirements

Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer)
macOS 26 (Tahoe) or newer
Apple Intelligence enabled in System Settings
Homebrew
Node.js 18+ (auto-installed if missing)

Access

After installation:

http://localhost:4321           # This Mac
http://<your-mac-ip>:4321       # Any device on your LAN (iPhone, iPad, etc.)

Update

Re-run the same install command — it pulls the latest and restarts the daemons:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bhaskarvilles/fruit-chat/main/install.sh | bash

Uninstall

bash ~/.fruit-chat/uninstall.sh

Manual / Developer Setup

git clone https://github.com/bhaskarvilles/fruit-chat.git
cd fruit-chat
./install.sh    # same script, detects local mode automatically

Or run without daemons (development):

# Terminal 1 — start Apple Intelligence server
apfel --serve

# Terminal 2 — start the web UI
npm start

Then open http://localhost:4321.

Ports

Service	Port
fruit-chat Web UI	`4321`
apfel OpenAI-compatible API	`11434`

Logs

tail -f /tmp/fruitchat-apfel.log    # Apple Intelligence server
tail -f /tmp/fruitchat-server.log   # Web UI server

Architecture

Browser / Any Apple Device
        ↕ HTTP :4321
fruit-chat  (Node.js + Express)
        ↕ SSE :11434 (OpenAI-compatible)
apfel --serve  (Swift CLI)
        ↕ Native Swift Framework
Apple FoundationModels  (on-device LLM)

License

MIT