AI That Never Leaves Your Computer: 3 Free Local AI Tools for Mac — Sentient OS, Local Code and Nativ

Every normal AI tool has the same trade: you send your files, emails and questions to someone else's cloud, and in return you get an answer. This week, three free tools in The Tool Nerd's roundup of new AI tools make the opposite trade — the AI runs on your own Mac, so your data stays on your desk. All three are free and open source. Here is what each one does, what your Mac needs, and exactly how to try it.

1. Sentient OS — an assistant that learns your life overnight

Sentient OS runs a model on your Mac that reads the sources you choose — your notes, emails, messages, calendar, files and screenshots — while you sleep. By morning it has written what it learned into a folder of plain Markdown files that you own and can edit. Its Sidekick feature can then take over tasks with its own on-screen cursor, and a double-tap of the right Command key drafts replies in your writing style.

• Price: free — entering the code FINAL_1000 in the app keeps it free for life, according to the official site.
• Licence: open source (AGPL-3.0). The team is part of Y Combinator's Fall 2026 batch.
• Your Mac needs: Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 15.4 or later. Windows is waitlist only.

How to try it, step by step:

1. Download the app from sentient-os.ai on your Mac.
2. Connect only the sources you are comfortable with — you choose what it may read.
3. Enter the code FINAL_1000 to keep it free for life.
4. Let it run its first analysis (overnight is the idea), then open the Markdown knowledge folder it creates and check what it learned.
5. Click the notch to hand Sidekick a small task first, and review the permissions you grant it before delegating anything sensitive.

One honest limit: the learning and analysis happen on your Mac, but some features can use cloud AI if you connect your own ChatGPT or Claude plan. Sentient says Double Tap can also run locally — if you want everything to stay on the machine, use a local model and leave the cloud options off.

2. Local Code — a private agent for documents, data and code

Local Code, from the team behind the popular Draw Things image app, is an AI agent that runs entirely on your Mac and works fully offline once a model is downloaded. Share a folder and ask for a chart, a five-slide deck or a simple web page; it works with Python, Node.js and a built-in shell, and Apple's App Sandbox keeps it limited to the folders you share — it cannot read your whole disk.

• Price: free on your own hardware, $0 per token for on-device models. Your own API keys carry no markup; optional hosted models use credit top-ups from $9.99, with no subscription.
• Licence: open source (GPL-3.0), and it is now on the Mac App Store.
• Your Mac needs: Apple silicon with 16 GB of memory or more. The Qwen 3.8 27B model runs from 16 GB; the bigger DeepSeek models start at 32 GB by streaming from your SSD.

How to try it, step by step:

1. Get the app from getlocalcode.app or the Mac App Store.
2. Share one folder — a test folder is a sensible start.
3. Download an on-device model inside the app (this is the only step that needs the internet).
4. Ask it for something real: "Turn this spreadsheet into a chart." After the model is downloaded, it works with Wi-Fi off.

3. Nativ — local models for your coding agents

Nativ, from Neywa Labs, is a Mac app for running open models, built on the MLX-VLM engine (Neywa's founder is the developer behind MLX-VLM). Its useful trick is a local server: point the coding agent you already use — Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Aider or Goose — at Nativ, and your agent runs on your machine with no per-token bill and no account or credits.

• Price: free. A Pro version is listed as coming soon, so judge it on the free version.
• Licence: open source (MIT).
• Your Mac needs: an Apple silicon Mac; pick a model size that fits your memory, using Nativ's model library.

How to try it, step by step:

1. Install Nativ from neywalabs.ai.
2. Choose an open model from its library and let it download.
3. Start Nativ's local server.
4. In your coding agent's settings, point the model endpoint at the local server instead of a cloud model — your code and prompts now stay on your machine.

Which one should you pick?

Buried in email and daily admin? Start with Sentient OS. Want a general-purpose helper for documents and data that even works on a plane? Local Code. Already coding with an AI agent and tired of token bills? Nativ. One warning that applies to all three: local models are a step behind the biggest cloud models in raw ability. What you get in exchange is privacy, zero running cost, and AI that works when the internet does not.

Sources: The Tool Nerd, "10 New AI Tools This Week" (3 November 2026), and the tools' official sites — sentient-os.ai, getlocalcode.app and neywalabs.ai — checked on 4 November 2026. Prices and requirements are as listed there on that date.