Apple’s Claris subsidiary is currently testing an app called Harbor, which allows from one to several Apple silicon Macs to act as a private AI server, easing the process of creating an AI server while keeping the data local.
Harbor can work with a single Apple Silicon Mac, or with multiple Macs connected via Thunderbolt 5, allowing it to pool unified memory for larger models. Harbor was formerly known as “Fabric” and creates a private AI inference server on a Mac, according to Aaronp613 on X.
Harbor turns your Mac into a private AI inference server. Run open-weight models locally on Apple silicon—your data never leaves your hardware, and nothing reaches the cloud. Connect multiple Mac computers over Thunderbolt 5 to pool unified memory, enabling large models and higher concurrency than a single computer can handle alone.
Set up in minutes, not hours. Harbor automatically detects your devices over Thunderbolt 5 to form a cluster. Plug in, start, and you’re running—no manual configuration, no command line, no infrastructure expertise required.
The app is said to be extremely user-friendly, and setup takes only minutes, not hours. It automatically detects your devices over Thunderbolt 5 to form a cluster, with “no manual configuration, no command line, no infrastructure expertise required.”
It is capable of running open-weight models on the Mac itself, and those models can be browsed, downloaded, and run directly from within the app. It also handles model management, allowing users to focus on their work, not on the setup process.
Harbor can be clustered for scale. By connecting two or more Thunderbolt 5-capable Mac computers, Harbor creates a single inference resource by pooling the Mac’s unified memory. Run models that exceed any single computer’s capacity, or serve more concurrent requests across your cluster.
The new app makes it easier for developers looking to break into AI, but that do not want to deal with cloud-based services that require handing over data in order to use said services. It also make it cheaper to set up a local LLM server, by chaining Apple Silicon-powered Macs.
Harbor is currently in “private preview” under Apple’s Claris brand. There had been an App Store listing, although it has now been removed.
