Open Source
Rapid-MLX
The fastest local AI engine for Apple Silicon. 4.2x faster than Ollama, 0.08s cached TTFT, 100% tool calling. 17 tool parsers, prompt cache, reasoning separation, cloud routing.
Our verdict
We have not reviewed Rapid-MLX yet
No one at Enterprise DNA has checked this listing against its sources. The description comes from public listings gathered automatically. Any fact below shows where it came from and when it was last checked.
From the listing
About Rapid-MLX
Rapid-MLX is a local AI inference engine optimized for Apple Silicon, offering drop-in OpenAI API compatibility. It achieves 4.2x faster performance than Ollama with 0.08s cached time-to-first-token and 100% tool calling support. The engine includes 17 tool parsers, prompt caching, reasoning separation, and cloud routing for hybrid local/remote execution.
Best for
Developers on Apple Silicon who need a fast, local OpenAI-compatible inference engine for tool-calling and reasoning tasks.
Use cases
- Running local LLMs with OpenAI-compatible endpoints for tools like Claude Code or Cursor
- Accelerating tool-calling workflows with 17 built-in parsers and cached responses
- Offloading reasoning tasks locally while routing other requests to cloud models
Notes
2,641 stars on GitHub. Last updated 2026-06-01. Licensed Apache-2.0.
Pros
- Significantly faster than Ollama on Apple Silicon hardware
- Full OpenAI API compatibility simplifies integration with existing tools
- Includes advanced features like prompt caching and reasoning separation out of the box
Cons
- Limited to Apple Silicon hardware, excluding Intel Macs and other platforms
- Community-maintained project may have less support than commercial alternatives
- Performance gains depend on model caching and may not apply to all workloads
Key facts
What we have checked
- Latest version
- 0.16.8 (released 22 Oct 2026)
- GitHub stars
- 3,845
Each value shows when we last confirmed it and where it came from. Values we have not confirmed are left out, never guessed.
Stars and usage
How Rapid-MLX is growing
2,641 to 3,845
Alternatives
Alternatives to Rapid-MLX
| Record | Type | How we know | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| llama.cppThis is an alternative to it | App | Named in the listing | Not dated |
| OllamaThis is an alternative to it | Open source | Named in the listing | Not dated |
| vLLMThis is an alternative to it | Open source | Named in the listing | Not dated |
Compare
Compare Rapid-MLX side by side
Sources
Where this comes from
- GitHubOfficial
- github api via nightly crawl, recovered from git history 20e874270887c1008f860ee0198e461a23c9e438Registry
A source shows what was published when we checked it. It does not certify security, performance or a working installation. Read our method.
Changelog
What changed
Released 0.16.8
Released rapid-mac-v0.16.8
Released 0.16.7
Released rapid-mac-v0.16.7
Released 0.16.6
Released rapid-mac-v0.16.6
Released 0.16.5
Released rapid-mac-v0.16.5
Released 0.16.4
Released rapid-mac-v0.16.4
Open-source & AI alternatives
Swap-in tools that solve the same job. Weigh the trade-offs before you commit.
Pairs with
Other entries in the index that connect to this one. Click through to see the chain.
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