Kitsmith / Utilities / Pico: Local AI Chat Server
Turns your Mac into a private, offline AI chat server running open models like Llama, Qwen, and DeepSeek — free, no cloud, no account.
Our take
A genuinely different angle from the cloud-API chat apps elsewhere in this section: Pico runs open-weight models (DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen, Mistral, Gemma, Phi, and 500+ others) locally on your own Mac via MLX, Apple’s on-device ML framework, with a built-in web chat interface and no cloud round-trip, no account, and no usage cap. One App Store reviewer, comparing it to the popular open-source tool Ollama, called it simply "faster than ollama"; the developer replies to reviews directly and ships frequent updates adding new models. Free, from a small independent studio (Starling Protocol) rather than a major lab — a fair tradeoff for privacy and offline access, but expect to do some of your own troubleshooting if a model misbehaves.
- Price
- Free
- License
- Proprietary
- Requires
- macOS 15.0 or later, per the Mac App Store listing; built on MLX, Apple’s on-device machine-learning framework.
- Get it via
- Mac App Store
- Developer
- Starling Protocol, Inc
Do you use Pico: Local AI Chat Server?
Who made this
San Francisco Bay Area
Starling Protocol, Inc. is credited on founder Ronald Mannak’s own LinkedIn profile as the company behind Pico — “Fast, Private, On-Device AI for Mac” in his own words, alongside a Delft University of Technology background.
What it does
Runs entirely on-device
No cloud connection required once a model is downloaded — chats and models stay on your Mac.
500+ open models
Download and run models from DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen, Mistral, Gemma, Phi, and other open-weight families.
Local API and MCP support
Connect your own tools, automations, and apps to the models running in Pico via local APIs, function calling, and MCP.
The deal
- Free on the Mac App Store, no usage cap or subscription
Pico: Local AI Chat Server — questions people ask
Is Pico free?
Yes, free on the Mac App Store with no usage cap.
Does Pico require an internet connection?
Only to download a model initially — chatting with an already-downloaded model runs entirely on your Mac, offline.
Who makes Pico?
Starling Protocol, Inc.
Is Pico: Local AI Chat Server free?
Yes — Pico: Local AI Chat Server is free.
Does Pico: Local AI Chat Server work alongside a notch app like Alcove?
Yes — Pico: Local AI Chat Server lives in the screen, so it runs happily alongside any Dynamic Island hub or notch app.
Where can I download Pico: Local AI Chat Server?
Pico: Local AI Chat Server is available via Mac App Store.
Reviews
No public ratings yet. Reader reviews are coming to Kitsmith soon.
Listing hand-verified August 29, 2026 from the developer's site and public sources.
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