Every Mac on macOS 27 now has a free LLM built into the Terminal.
No account. No API key. No internet. No token bill.
Setup (1 minute):
1. sudo fm license (enter your Mac password, one time)
2. fm available (checks the model is downloaded)
3. fm respond “your question”
Works on any Apple Silicon Mac, M1 included.
- Pipe files: cat notes.txt | fm respond -i “summarize this”
- Get JSON back: build a schema with fm schema object, pass it with --schema
- Local API: fm serve gives you an OpenAI-compatible endpoint on localhost
- Resume chats: sessions save to ~/.fm/sessions/
The limit is 4,096 tokens per session, and your prompt, instructions, and the answer all share it.
So skip code and math. Use it for summarizing, extracting, classifying, and rewriting.
Free, private, offline, and already on your Mac.