apfel

apfel

Apple’s on-device language model from the command line

curl -fsSL https://unflab.app/get | sh -s -- apfel

Installs to ~/.local/bin. Add --prefix /usr/local/bin to
put it somewhere else, or --uninstall to remove it.

Why it’s here

No dependency problem to solve — it’s here so it installs the same way as everything else.

Details

Not built by unflab: the installer downloads that binary from
its publisher, and installs it only if its SHA-256 matches the
one pinned in the recipe and its Developer ID signature is valid.
CI makes the same checks, and confirms it links against
nothing outside /usr/lib and /System/.

apfel puts the language model built into macOS — the one behind
Apple Intelligence — on the command line. It runs entirely on your
Mac: no API key, no account, nothing sent anywhere.

apfel "summarise this in one line" -f notes.txt
git diff | apfel "write a commit message for this"
apfel --chat                    # interactive conversation
apfel --serve                   # OpenAI-compatible server on localhost

apfel --help covers the flags; man apfel is the full reference.

Requirements

• Apple Silicon. There is no Intel build.
• macOS 26 or later.
• Apple Intelligence switched on in System Settings → Apple
  Intelligence & Siri, with its model downloaded. Until it is, apfel
  installs and runs but has no model to answer with.

Install

./install.sh                      # into ~/.local/bin
./install.sh --prefix /usr/local/bin
./install.sh --uninstall

Where the binary comes from

unflab doesn’t build this one. Upstream publishes a release binary
that is already what unflab would produce: signed with the author’s
Apple Developer ID, notarised, and linking nothing outside the base
system.

This package holds the man page, the shell completions, the licence
and this README. When you install it, its install.sh downloads the
binary from apfel’s GitHub release and keeps it only if both of these
hold:

• its SHA-256 matches the one pinned in unflab’s recipe, which is the
  exact file unflab’s CI checked;
• it carries a valid Apple Developer ID signature from the author’s
  team (7D2YX5DQ6M).

If either check fails, nothing is installed. CI makes the same two
checks, and also confirms the binary links only against /usr/lib and
/System/.

Shell completions

Completions for zsh, bash and fish are installed to each shell’s usual
directory. zsh only finds them if fpath includes that directory
before compinit runs — the post-install message gives the line.

Not shipped

The demo/ scripts from upstream’s release tarball. They are embedded
in the binary, and apfel demos <dir> writes them out.

Upstream

• Home: https://apfel.franzai.com
• Source: https://github.com/Arthur-Ficial/apfel
• Version: 1.16.0
• Licence: MIT