# uzu

> MIT on-device inference engine for Apple Silicon apps

**Category:** AI Agents  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://trymirai.com  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/trymirai/uzu  
**Added:** 2026-10-13

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## The Hook

uzu is a Rust inference engine for running models inside your own app on Apple devices, with Swift, Python and TypeScript bindings, tool calls, structured output and an OpenAI-compatible server mode.

## What's Good

MIT (trymirai/uzu), release 0.6.3. Native Rust crate; Swift bindings via uniffi, Python via pyo3, TypeScript via napi-rs. Metal and CPU backends, using unified memory on Apple devices; targets macOS, iOS and Mac Catalyst. One high-level API covers local chat sessions, structured output, tool calls, and optional cloud models through your own OpenAI key. A CLI can browse, download, benchmark and serve models over /v1/chat/completions. ★~2.2k.

## The Catch

Apple-first: Linux, Windows and WASM targets are still listed as in progress. It uses its own model format — you download Mirai's converted models or export one yourself with their lalamo tool, so you cannot drop in an arbitrary GGUF. The Rust quick start pulls from the git main branch. Backed by a company (Mirai). Vs Rapid-MLX (a local server for coding agents on a Mac): uzu is an embeddable engine for shipping AI inside iOS and macOS apps.

## Verdict

The pick for on-device models inside an iOS or macOS app — MIT and free, but Apple-only for now and tied to its own model format.