# Vesta AI Explorer for macOS - macOS Tahoe 26

### [vesta-mac.pages.dev](https://vesta-mac.pages.dev)

## Install with Homebrew (recommended)

```bash
brew tap scouzi1966/afm
brew install --cask scouzi1966/afm/vesta-mac
```

## Direct Download

| Channel | Version | Download | Date |
|---------|---------|----------|------|
| **Stable** | 0.9.7 | [Vesta-0.9.7.dmg](https://github.com/scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist/releases/download/v0.9.7/Vesta-0.9.7.dmg) | 2026-05-08 |
| Nightly | Vesta-next | [Vesta-next.dmg](https://github.com/scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist/releases/download/Vesta-next/Vesta-next.dmg) | Vesta-next |

### Nightly via Homebrew

```bash
brew install --cask scouzi1966/afm/vesta-mac-next
```

Vesta is a multi-backend AI chat application for macOS that runs models locally on Apple Silicon. It supports five AI backends simultaneously -- Apple Intelligence, MLX, llama.cpp, HuggingFace Inference API, and OpenAI-compatible API servers -- with runtime switching, vision understanding, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, image generation, video generation, and a full MCP server for programmatic control.

### Demo

[![Vesta Demo](demo-preview.gif)](https://vesta-mac.pages.dev/mcp-demo.mp4)

*Click to watch the full demo video*

Note that there is a known bug in Qwen3-VL models where it will loop indefinitely in some cases and never complete. In this case stop the generation and tweak your prompt. This is a model behavior, not the app.
Reference: https://github.com/QwenLM/Qwen3-VL/issues/1611#issuecomment-3639175711

---

## Vesta 0.9.7 (May 8, 2026)

MLX model support sync with maclocal-api and release pipeline hardening.

### Changes
- **Qwen 3.6 support** -- imported maclocal-api architecture mapping for Qwen 3.6 MLX models.
- **Gemma 4 support** -- aligned Gemma 4 model handling and chat template fallback behavior with maclocal-api.
- **Crash fix** -- corrected Gemma 4 VL attention reshape handling for prompt generation.
- **Release publishing** -- rebuilt from scratch in Release, notarized, stapled, and published as a signed DMG.

---

## Vesta 0.9.6 (Mar 4, 2026)

Stability and release pipeline improvements.

### Changes
- **Stacked download button** -- version and date displayed vertically on the website download button
- **Publish date on stable button** -- stable download button now shows the release date
- **Expanded test suite** -- automated test pipeline expanded to 4 stages with full coverage
- **Pre-test validation** -- release skill checks for running Vesta instance before tests

---

## Vesta 0.9.5 (Feb 11, 2026)

**94 commits, 2 months of development since v0.9.0**

This is a major release that transforms Vesta from a two-backend chat app into a full multi-modal AI platform with five backends, MCP integration, and media generation capabilities. Explore the world of AI beyond ChatGPT!

### New in 0.9.5

#### Multi-Backend Architecture
- **HuggingFace Explorer** -- Leverage the HuggingFace Pro subscription and inference providers partners for ImageGen, Videogen, Image edit, Whisper etc. I am not affiliated with HuggingFace but the pro sub is worth it.
- **5 simultaneous backends** -- Apple Intelligence, MLX, llama.cpp, HuggingFace Explorer, and External AI (OpenAI-compatible) all active at once (Single chat routing)
- **Runtime backend switching** -- switch between backends without restarting the app
- **Per-backend settings** -- each backend has its own generation parameters, model selection, and configuration
- **HuggingFace Browser** -- Direct browse and download models from HuggingFace in-app

#### MCP Server (Model Context Protocol) - Agentic Sidekick!
- **Full MCP server** running on TCP loopback with token-based authentication
- **Agentic Sidekick** Vesta detects Claude Code when you enable MCP - Claude Code acts as an agent with a NLI (Natural Language Interface) to the app. Ask Claude to set things up, have a conversation with any other model!
- **41+ tools** -- backend management, chat, model download/load/unload, vision analysis, settings, conversation history search, diagnostics, UI navigation
- **6 resources** -- app state, models, conversation, settings, logs, system info
- **7 prompts** -- guides for Vesta, MLX, llama.cpp, HuggingFace, and common workflows
- **AI Sidekick** -- Claude Code integration for programmatic Vesta control
- **Conversation history search** -- full-text search and read-only SQL queries against the SQLite message database

#### HuggingFace Explorer (New Backend)
- **Cloud inference** via 16+ providers (Cerebras, Groq, Together, Fireworks, SambaNova, Nebius, Replicate, and more)
- **Text-to-image generation** -- FLUX.1 Schnell/Dev, FLUX.2, Stable Diffusion 3.x, SDXL with configurable size, guidance, and steps
- **Image editing** -- instruction-based editing with FLUX Kontext and FLUX.2 via Replicate
- **Video generation** -- Wan 2.2 T2V (text-to-video) with async polling
- **Speech-to-text transcription** -- OpenAI Whisper models via HuggingFace Inference API with 14 languages
- **Vision/VLM** -- Qwen2.5-VL, Qwen3-VL and other vision-language models via cloud
- **Model browser** -- search and discover models from HuggingFace Hub with download counts, likes, and gated model detection
- **Reasoning display** -- chain-of-thought rendering for models that emit `<think>` tags (DeepSeek R1, QwQ, etc.)
- **7-tab settings panel** -- Chat, Vision, Image, Edit, Transcribe, Video, Settings

#### Text-to-Speech (TTS)
- **Kokoro** (82M) -- 46+ voices across 10+ languages, fast and high-quality
- **Marvis** (100M/250M) -- conversational TTS with voice cloning support via reference audio
- Models download on first use from HuggingFace

#### Speech-to-Text (STT) -- WhisperKit
- **On-device transcription** via WhisperKit CoreML -- zero network required
- **6 model sizes** -- Tiny (39M) through Large V3 (1.5B) and Large V3 Turbo (809M)
- **28+ languages** with auto-detect
- Per-segment timing and speed ratio reporting

#### Jinja Template Support (minja)
- Full Jinja2 template parsing for GGUF models via llama.cpp's minja library
- Correctly renders chat templates embedded in model metadata
- Falls back to llama_chat_apply_template() for non-Jinja templates

#### GGUF Model Browser
- Search and browse GGUF models from HuggingFace Hub
- Capability badges: Vision, Tool Use, Reasoning, Coding, Math, Multilingual
- Split/multipart file detection
- Automatic mmproj detection for vision models

#### MLX Improvements
- **Qwen3-VL M-RoPE patch** -- +81% performance improvement for vision inference (auto-applied via script)
- **KV cache controls** exposed -- max KV size, quantization bits, prefill step size
- **MLX benchmark tool** (mlx-bench) for standalone performance testing
- **Wired memory** set to 90% of GPU recommended working set for large model performance

### Improvements
- **Per-message metrics** -- token count and tokens/sec stored with each message in the database
- **Green parameter labels** -- visual indicator when a generation parameter matches the model's configured default
- **Binary voice format** -- Kokoro voice files converted from JSON to binary (144 MB down to 27 MB)
- **Conversation history view** with backend filtering and pagination
- **One-command build** -- `build-from-scratch.sh` handles submodules, patching, llama.cpp library build, and Xcode build
- **Distribution pipeline** -- automated DMG creation, notarization, and GitHub release via `build-vesta-mac-dist.sh`
- **Automated testing framework** -- 44+ UI tests via MCP-based test runner

### Bug Fixes
- Fix AVKit VideoPlayer crash during SwiftUI transitions (disabled transition animations)
- Fix download progress stuck at 0% and crash in llama.cpp streaming
- Fix TTS mode hijacking text generation when both TTS and LLM models are loaded
- Fix O(N^2) reasoning parser performance
- Fix reasoning parser stripMarkers bug and chat history contamination
- Fix streaming throttle not kicking in when content scrolls off-screen
- Fix llama.cpp default context size (2048 changed to 16384 for Qwen3-VL)
- Fix Continuity Camera Swift 6 concurrency crash in Release builds (Objective-C workaround)
- Fix NSHostingView constraint crash in MLX settings window (non-observing wrapper)
- Fix MoE warmup crash for models with 32+ experts (reduced warmup batch size)
- Fix mxfp4 MoE Metal shader crash (skip warmup for mxfp4 models)
- Fix ESpeakNG unsealed contents causing notarization failure
- Fix GGUF vision model image handling and model deduplication

---

## Vesta 0.9.0 (Dec 10, 2025)

### New in 0.9.0
- **Vision capabilities** with Qwen3-VL model (describe images, analyze screenshots)
- **Continuity Camera** input (capture photos directly from iPhone/iPad)
- **Code syntax highlighting** for 20+ programming languages
- **Edit responses** inline after generation
- **HTML preview** for rendered content
- **Enhanced LaTeX** math rendering in blockquotes
- Improved rendering engine with real-time code block highlighting

---

## Features

- **Apple Intelligence** -- on-device AI via Foundation Models framework (always available)
- **MLX Backend** -- Apple Silicon optimized inference with mlx-swift (Qwen3-VL vision models)
- **llama.cpp Backend** -- GGUF model support with full Metal GPU acceleration and Jinja templates
- **HuggingFace Explorer** -- cloud inference, image/video generation, transcription via 16+ providers
- **External AI** -- connect to any OpenAI-compatible API server (LM Studio, Ollama, etc.)
- **Vision** -- image understanding via Qwen3-VL (MLX, llama.cpp, or HuggingFace)
- **Text-to-Speech** -- Kokoro, Marvis (with voice cloning), and Orpheus TTS engines
- **Speech-to-Text** -- WhisperKit on-device transcription (Tiny through Large V3)
- **MCP Server** -- 41+ tools for programmatic control, model management, and AI Sidekick integration
- **GitHub Flavored Markdown** -- tables, task lists, strikethrough via remark/rehype pipeline
- **LaTeX Math** -- inline and block math rendering with KaTeX
- **Code Highlighting** -- 20+ languages with real-time streaming highlight
- **Liquid Glass UI** -- native macOS Tahoe design
- **App Sandbox** -- Developer ID signed and Apple notarized

## Verify

```bash
# Check SHA256
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Vesta-*.dmg

# Check code signature
codesign --verify --deep --strict /Applications/Vesta.app

# Check notarization
spctl --assess --type execute /Applications/Vesta.app
```

## Requirements

- **macOS 26.0** (Tahoe) or later
- **Apple Silicon Mac** (M1/M2/M3/M4)
- Microphone access for voice input and STT
- Internet access for HuggingFace backend and model downloads (on-device backends work offline after model download)

## Security & Privacy

- Signed with **Developer ID Application: Soprano Technologies Inc.**
- **Notarized by Apple**
- **App Sandbox enabled**
- On-device backends (Apple Intelligence, MLX, llama.cpp) process everything locally -- no data sent to servers
- HuggingFace and External AI backends require network access for inference
- API tokens stored in macOS Keychain

## Related

- **Source Code**: https://github.com/scouzi1966/vesta-mac
- **Distribution**: https://github.com/scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist (this repo)
- **Website**: https://vesta-mac.pages.dev
- **CLI Alternative**: https://github.com/scouzi1966/maclocal-api

## Support

- [Report an Issue](https://github.com/scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist/issues/new)
- [Request a Feature](https://github.com/scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist/issues/new)
- [Browse Issues](https://github.com/scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist/issues)

## License

(c) 2025-2026 Soprano Technologies Inc. All rights reserved.

## Built With

- **Apple Intelligence** -- Foundation Models framework
- **MLX** -- mlx-swift + mlx-swift-lm for Apple Silicon inference
- **llama.cpp** -- GGUF inference with Metal acceleration
- **WhisperKit** -- CoreML-based Whisper speech-to-text
- **mlx-audio** -- Kokoro/Marvis/Orpheus TTS
- **SwiftUI** -- native macOS interface
- **KaTeX** -- math rendering
- **highlight.js** -- code syntax highlighting
- **remark/rehype** -- markdown processing pipeline

---

Built with automated distribution pipeline | Notarized and code-signed | Apple Silicon native

## Star History

[![Star History Chart](https://api.star-history.com/svg?repos=scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist&type=Date)](https://star-history.com/#scouzi1966/vesta-mac-dist&Date)