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KoboldCpp
GitHub

Install on macOS (Apple Silicon)

KoboldCpp has a ready-made file for Macs with Apple Silicon (M-series) and macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer. It is a single file that you run from Terminal.

  1. Download koboldcpp-mac-arm64.

  2. In Terminal, go to the folder with the file, make it executable and run it:

    Terminal
    cd ~/Downloads
    chmod +x koboldcpp-mac-arm64
    ./koboldcpp-mac-arm64

  3. The first time, macOS shows "Apple could not verify “koboldcpp-mac-arm64” is free of malware…". Click Done, not Move to Trash. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security and click Open Anyway next to the message about koboldcpp-mac-arm64. Run the file again and confirm. After that, it starts without asking.

To skip the prompt, remove the download mark in Terminal before the first start:

Terminal
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine koboldcpp-mac-arm64

The launcher opens. Continue with Choose a model.

Apple's guide and a video guide show how to allow the file.

GPU (Metal)

Section titled “GPU (Metal)”

The Mac build uses Metal on the GPU automatically.

  • With GPU Layers at -1 (the default), all layers go to the GPU. The console prints:

    MacOS detected: Auto GPU layers set to maximum

  • Unable to determine GPU Memory and Unable to determine available RAM in the console are expected on Apple Silicon and not a problem. When the launcher opens, it can also print Unable to detect VRAM..

More: Apple Silicon.

Advanced: failsafe mode (no Metal)

Section titled “Advanced: failsafe mode (no Metal)”

--failsafe switches to a CPU-only library that uses Apple's Accelerate framework instead of Metal:

Terminal
./koboldcpp-mac-arm64 --failsafe

Intel Macs

Section titled “Intel Macs”

There is no ready-made file for Intel (x86) Macs. Clone the repository and compile it yourself; see Build from source. Intel Macs are poorly supported.

Section titled “Related”