oMLX

oMLX

oMLX is a macOS-native LLM inference server optimized for Apple Silicon that provides paged SSD KV caching, continuous batching, and drop-in OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible APIs for low-latency local AI on Mac.

oMLX is ai tools software teams evaluate for software & gaming. Use this page to review pricing, integration signals, and the best alternatives before you commit.

Free API 70/100
#39 in Coding (39 tools)
Just launched
Data reviewed Aug 30, 2026

Profile facts come from the vendor source. AiMatch labels unknown pricing or API details instead of estimating them.

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Quick Overview

Best for: Software & Gaming

What it does

AI Tools software for decision-makers comparing workflow fit and alternatives.

Best fit

Software & Gaming

Pricing snapshot

Free from Free (Apache 2.0)

Next step

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oMLX

oMLX is a macOS-native inference server and menu-bar app that runs LLM, VLM, embedding, and reranker models locally on Apple Silicon Macs. It persists KV cache blocks to SSD in safetensors format so previously seen prefixes are restored from disk instead of being recomputed, reducing time-to-first-token (TTFT) for long contexts. oMLX is designed for developer and agent workflows (for example, coding agents) and provides OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible endpoints, a web admin dashboard for model management and metrics, and tools like tool-calling support and model downloading from the dashboard.

Mac LLM server that cuts agent wait times from 90s to 5s Discussion | Link

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Key Features

Paged SSD KV caching

Cache blocks are persisted to disk in safetensors format; hot blocks stay in RAM and cold blocks move to SSD with an LRU policy so previously seen prefixes are restored across requests and server restarts.

Continuous batching

Handles concurrent requests using mlx-lm's BatchGenerator to improve throughput (benchmarks show up to ~4.14× generation speedup at 8× concurrency).

Native macOS app

macOS menu bar app to start, stop, and monitor the server, plus a web dashboard for model management, chat, and real-time metrics; signed, notarized, with in-app auto-update.

Multi-model serving

Load LLMs, VLMs, embeddings, and reranker models simultaneously with LRU eviction when memory runs low; browse and download models from the admin dashboard.

OpenAI + Anthropic-compatible API

Provides OpenAI-compatible endpoints (e.g., /v1/chat/completions) and Anthropic-compatible /v1/messages endpoints; dashboard generates config commands for clients.

Tool calling & MCP

Supports major tool-calling formats (JSON, Qwen, Gemma, GLM, MiniMax) plus MCP tool integration and tool result trimming for oversized outputs; configurable per model.

Hugging Face cache compatibility

Reads the standard Hugging Face cache (~/.cache/huggingface/hub) and picks up LM Studio folders and custom directories so previously downloaded models are reused.

Pricing

Free Tier Available

Free and open-source under the Apache 2.0 license.

Open source

Free (Apache 2.0)
  • Source code on GitHub
  • macOS app and install-from-source options

Use Cases

Local coding agents and developer workflows

Run coding agents locally with fast restore of previous prefixes, reducing TTFT and avoiding recomputation of KV state during iterative coding sessions.

Local model serving and experimentation

Host multiple model types (LLM, VLM, embeddings, rerankers) on a Mac for development, testing, or private inference without cloud dependencies.

Drop-in backend for OpenAI/Anthropic clients

Use oMLX as a local drop-in backend for clients like Claude Code, OpenClaw, Cursor, or any OpenAI-compatible tool for faster local responses.

Low-latency multi-request throughput

Improve throughput for concurrent requests via continuous batching to accelerate generation for multi-user or multi-agent scenarios.

Integrations

OpenAI-compatible clients

Provides OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions endpoints to act as a drop-in backend.

Anthropic-compatible clients

Provides Anthropic-compatible /v1/messages endpoints for tools like Claude Code.

Hugging Face cache

Reads the standard Hugging Face cache (~/.cache/huggingface/hub) so previously downloaded models are reused.

LM Studio

Detects and picks up LM Studio folders and custom model directories so re-downloads are not required.

Benefits

Significantly reduced time-to-first-token (TTFT) on long contexts by persisting KV cache to SSD (under 5s from 2nd turn reported).
Higher throughput for concurrent requests via continuous batching (benchmarks show multi× speedups at 2×–8× concurrency).
Native macOS experience with a signed, notarized menu-bar app and web dashboard for model management and config generation.

Limitations

macOS-only: requires Apple Silicon and macOS 15+ (Apple Silicon M1 or later).
Minimum RAM is 16GB; 64GB+ recommended for larger models and comfortable daily use.
Models must be in MLX-format or compatible formats available via the Hugging Face cache or downloaded through the dashboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is oMLX different from Ollama or LM Studio?
Ollama and LM Studio cache the KV state in memory and can invalidate and recompute caches when context shifts. oMLX persists KV cache blocks to SSD so previously cached portions are recoverable and TTFT is reduced to under 5 seconds on long contexts.
What hardware do I need?
Apple Silicon (M1 or later) with macOS 15+. 16GB RAM minimum; 64GB+ recommended for comfortable use with larger models. The sweet spot for daily coding work is an M-series Pro/Max with 64GB+.
Does it work with Claude Code, OpenClaw, and Cursor?
Yes. oMLX provides OpenAI-compatible (/v1/chat/completions) and Anthropic-compatible (/v1/messages) endpoints and works as a drop-in backend for these tools. The web dashboard has a one-click config generator.
Do I need to re-download my models?
No. oMLX reads the standard Hugging Face cache and picks up your LM Studio folder and custom directories; the admin dashboard also includes a HuggingFace downloader.
What models are supported?
Any MLX-format model from HuggingFace, including Qwen, LLaMA, Mistral, Gemma, DeepSeek, MiniMax, GLM, and more. Vision-Language Models are supported since v0.2.0.

Getting Started

  1. 1 Download the DMG and drag to Applications (macOS app welcome screen walks through model directory, server start, and first model download).
  2. 2 Or install from source (requires Python 3.10+ and Apple Silicon): git clone https://github.com/jundot/omlx && pip install -e .
  3. 3 Start the server (example: omlx serve --model-dir ~/models) and connect any OpenAI-compatible client on localhost:8000 or use the dashboard's generated config command.

Support

Documentation

Documentation and product pages available on the oMLX website and links from the GitHub repository.

Community / Issues

Community discussion and issue tracker available on the project's GitHub (Issues, Releases).

Source code

Source, installation instructions, and releases available on the GitHub repository.

API

Available: Yes
Documentation:

Provides OpenAI-compatible (/v1/chat/completions) and Anthropic-compatible (/v1/messages) endpoints; the web dashboard generates exact config commands for clients.

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