The AI assistant that actually remembers, actually works, and actually stays private.
SAM is a native macOS AI assistant built with Swift and SwiftUI. Unlike cloud-only alternatives, SAM keeps your data on your Mac, supports multiple AI providers (including fully local models), and provides powerful tools for autonomous task execution.
🔐 Privacy First
- All data stays on your Mac - nothing sent to the cloud unless you choose
- Run completely offline with local AI models
- API keys stored securely in macOS Keychain
- Zero telemetry, zero tracking
🧠 Intelligent Memory
- Remember and search across all your conversations
- Import documents (PDF, Word, Excel, text) and ask questions about them
- Share context between conversations when you need it
- Keep conversations private from each other when you don't
🤖 Gets Work Done
- Multi-step task execution - describe what you want, SAM handles the details
- Work with files, run commands, research the web
- Generate documents and images
- Handle complex projects autonomously
🛠️ Powerful Tools
- Read, edit, and search files
- Run terminal commands
- Research and browse the web
- Work with Git repositories
- Generate images with Stable Diffusion
🎨 Image Generation
- Multiple Stable Diffusion models supported
- Browse and download from HuggingFace and CivitAI
- LoRA support for style customization
- Optimized for Apple Silicon
🌐 Flexible AI Provider Support
- Cloud AI: OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), GitHub Copilot, DeepSeek
- Local Models: Run AI completely on your Mac with MLX or llama.cpp
- Switch models mid-conversation
- Use custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints
- Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
- Extract the downloaded zip file
- Move
SAM.appto your Applications folder - First Launch: Right-click SAM.app → Open (macOS Gatekeeper requirement, only needed once)
- Launch SAM
- Open Settings (
⌘,) - Go to AI Providers tab
- Click Add Provider
- Choose your provider:
- Cloud AI: OpenAI, Claude, GitHub Copilot, or DeepSeek
- Local Model: Choose a model to download and run on your Mac
- For cloud providers: Enter your API key
- Save and start chatting!
Press ⌘N to create a new conversation, type your message, and press Enter. SAM will respond and can help you with questions, writing, coding, research, file management, and much more.
- Unlimited conversations with automatic saving
- Export to JSON or Markdown
- Rename, duplicate, and organize conversations
- Switch AI models mid-conversation
- Search across all your conversations semantically
- Import documents (PDF, Word, Excel, text files) and ask questions about them
- Share context between conversations when needed
- Keep conversations private from each other by default
| Provider | What You Get |
|---|---|
| OpenAI | GPT-4, GPT-4o, GPT-3.5, o1/o3 models |
| Anthropic | Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 4 (long context) |
| GitHub Copilot | GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, o1 (requires subscription) |
| DeepSeek | Cost-effective AI models |
| Local MLX | Run models on Apple Silicon Macs |
| Local llama.cpp | Run models on any Mac (Intel or Apple Silicon) |
| Custom | Use any OpenAI-compatible API |
Work with Files
- Read, write, search, and edit files
- Find files by name or content
- Get file information
Execute Commands
- Run terminal commands
- Manage persistent terminal sessions
- Execute shell scripts
Research & Web
- Search the web (Google, Bing, and more)
- Scrape and analyze web pages
- Gather and synthesize information from multiple sources
Development Tools
- Git operations (commit, diff, status)
- Build and run tasks
- Search code and check for errors
Documents & Images
- Import and analyze PDF, Word, Excel, and text files
- Create formatted documents (PDF, Word, PowerPoint)
- Generate images with Stable Diffusion
- Multiple Stable Diffusion models (SD 1.5, SDXL, and more)
- Browse and download models from HuggingFace and CivitAI
- LoRA support for custom styles
- Optimized for Apple Silicon Macs
Choose from built-in personalities to customize how SAM communicates:
- General Purpose: SAM (default), Generic, Concise
- Tech & Development: Developer, Architect, Code Reviewer, Tech Buddy
- Domain Experts: Doctor, Counsel, Finance Coach, Scientist, Philosopher
- Creative Writing: Creative Catalyst, DocuGenie, Prose Pal
- Productivity: Fitness Fanatic, Motivator
- Fun Characters: Comedian, Pirate, Time Traveler, Jester
And many more! You can also create custom personalities.
To Use SAM:
- macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
- 4GB RAM minimum (8GB+ recommended)
- 3GB free disk space for the app
For Local AI Models:
- 16GB+ RAM recommended
- 20GB+ free disk space (models can be large)
- Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) recommended for best performance with MLX
- Intel Macs can use llama.cpp models
For developers who want to build SAM from source, see BUILDING.md for complete instructions.
Complete documentation is available:
- Website - User guides and tutorials
- project-docs/ - Technical documentation for developers
- BUILDING.md - Build instructions
- CONTRIBUTING.md - How to contribute
- Conversations: Stored locally in
~/Library/Application Support/SAM/ - Memory: Per-conversation databases, never shared between conversations
- API Keys: Encrypted in macOS Keychain
- No Telemetry: Zero usage tracking, zero data collection
When you use cloud AI providers (OpenAI, Claude, etc.), only the messages you send go to those providers. SAM never sends telemetry or analytics anywhere.
- Authorization system for file and terminal operations
- Per-conversation memory isolation prevents data leakage
- Optional auto-approve for operations you trust
- Full audit trail of all actions
For Everyone:
- Get answers to questions with AI that can search the web and your documents
- Write and edit documents with AI assistance
- Research topics and get comprehensive summaries
- Organize and manage files on your Mac
- Generate images from text descriptions
For Developers:
- Review code and find bugs
- Generate documentation automatically
- Automate builds and testing
- Work with Git repositories
- Search and refactor codebases
For Researchers:
- Analyze and summarize documents
- Research topics across the web
- Cross-reference multiple sources
- Create visualizations and diagrams
For Content Creators:
- Writing assistance and editing
- Generate images for blogs and social media
- Organize research and content
- Fact-checking and research
~/Library/Application Support/SAM/
├── conversations/ # Your conversation files
├── config.json # App settings
└── conversations/{id}/
└── memory.db # Memories for each conversation
~/Library/Caches/sam/models/
├── mlx/ # MLX models (Apple Silicon)
├── gguf/ # llama.cpp models
└── stable-diffusion/ # Stable Diffusion models and LoRAs
~/SAM/
├── conversation-{number}/ # Working files for each conversation
└── {topic-name}/ # Shared workspace for topics
~/Library/Caches/sam/images/ # Images created by Stable Diffusion
We welcome contributions! To contribute:
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch:
git checkout -b feature/your-feature - Make your changes
- Test your changes
- Commit with clear messages
- Push and create a pull request
See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.
SAM won't open after downloading?
# Remove macOS quarantine attribute
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/SAM.appModel not showing up in the model list?
- Check that models are in
~/Library/Caches/sam/models/mlx/or~/Library/Caches/sam/models/gguf/ - Restart SAM after adding new models
API key issues?
- Verify your API key in Settings → AI Providers
- Check that your API key is active on the provider's website
- Review any error messages in the conversation
- Documentation: Website and project-docs/
- Report Issues: GitHub Issues
- Discussions: GitHub Discussions
SAM is built with:
- Swift 6 with strict concurrency
- SwiftUI for native macOS interface
- Vapor for embedded HTTP/SSE server
- SQLite for conversation and memory storage
- MLX for Apple Silicon AI models
- llama.cpp for cross-platform AI models
- Stable Diffusion (CoreML + Python) for image generation
For developers interested in the technical architecture, see project-docs/.
License: GPLv3 - See LICENSE for details
Created by: Andrew Wyatt (Fewtarius)
Website: https://syntheticautonomicmind.org
Repository: https://github.com/SyntheticAutonomicMind/SAM
Built with open source:
- Vapor - Web framework
- MLX - Apple machine learning
- llama.cpp - LLM inference
- Stable Diffusion - Image generation
- Sparkle - App updates
Special thanks to all contributors and the Swift/AI communities.
Ready to get started? Download SAM and experience AI that respects your privacy while getting real work done.
