Apple is testing a new Mac app designed to make running artificial intelligence models locally much easier, including the ability to connect multiple Macs to handle tasks too demanding for a single computer.
Called Harbor, the app is being developed under Apple’s Claris subsidiary, best known for its FileMaker database software. Details of the project were uncovered by software researcher Aaron Perris, who shared screenshots and an app description on November 10. Harbor is currently in a private preview and is not available for the general public to download.
The idea is to turn an Apple silicon Mac into a private AI server without requiring users to configure software through Terminal. Harbor would let people browse, download and run open-weight AI models directly from the app, with the system handling much of the setup and management work normally involved.
Harbor’s more ambitious feature is the ability to link two or more Macs through Thunderbolt 5 and combine their unified memory resources. That could allow users to run AI models that would otherwise be too large for one machine or handle more simultaneous requests. According to the details shared by Perris, Harbor is designed to detect compatible computers automatically, avoiding the need for manual cluster configuration.
Privacy is central to the concept. Instead of sending prompts and data to a remote AI service, the models would run on the user’s own hardware. That could be particularly useful for businesses and developers working with confidential information, although local processing does not remove the need to consider the security and behavior of individual models.
Apple has already positioned its newest Macs for demanding AI workloads. Its M5 Ultra Mac Studio supports up to 512GB of unified memory, and the company has promoted connecting multiple Mac Studio computers using Thunderbolt 5 for larger AI workloads. The Apple Post previously covered those capabilities when the machine was announced.
Harbor would build on that hardware by making a complicated process more approachable. Existing third-party apps already support running AI models locally on Mac, but Claris appears to be working on an integrated interface for model downloads, device discovery and managing multiple computers. The app’s reported features were also described by Cult of Mac.
There is no confirmed public release date or pricing, and it is unclear whether Harbor will be offered broadly to Mac owners or aimed primarily at businesses. The preview’s Claris branding and a sign-up form requesting a company name suggest an enterprise focus, but Apple has not outlined its final plans. For now, Harbor remains an early-stage project rather than a new Mac app customers can install today.