ModelHub is a native macOS menu bar app for developers working with local LLMs. It helps you discover models from Hugging Face, download the right local build, manage your model library, and use Hugging Face models with Ollama, MLX, LM Studio, llama.cpp, and the tools you already have without bouncing between browser tabs, terminal commands, model cards, and local folders. Ollama, MLX, and LM Studio are great tools. ModelHub is the missing discovery and management layer around them.
Hey Product Hunt 👋
We built ModelHub because local AI on Mac is getting good fast but the
workflow around models still feels scattered.
Ollama makes running local models simple. MLX makes Apple Silicon a stronger platform for inference. LM Studio gives people a great local model workspace. Hugging Face has the model ecosystem.
But as developers, we kept running into the same problem:
Finding the right model, checking the right format, downloading it, remembering what was installed, switching between Ollama, MLX, LM Studio, Hugging Face, and local folders, and keeping everything organized still involved too many tabs, terminal commands, and disconnected tools.
So we built ModelHub: a native macOS menu bar app for discovering, downloading, and managing local LLMs from Hugging Face, then using them with Ollama, MLX, LM Studio, llama.cpp, and the tools you already use.
It is not trying to replace Ollama, MLX, LM Studio, or llama.cpp.
It is meant to sit beside them.
Think of it as the missing model manager for your local AI setup.
We’d love feedback from:
- Developers running models locally on Mac
- Ollama users
- LM Studio users
- MLX / Apple Silicon builders
- People testing coding models locally
- Anyone who has too many model files sitting in random folders
Specific feedback we’re looking for:
1. What model metadata matters most before downloading?
2. Should we prioritize Ollama, MLX, LM Studio, or all workflows equally?
3. What would make this useful enough to keep in your menu bar app every day?
Thanks for checking it out. We’ll be in the comments all day.
The 'Runs on this Mac' feature for checking if a model can run on the hardware that I have is my favourite part! That's usually the first thing I want to know before downloading some huge model.
Two things I'd love to see: more pre-download details like license, context length, and RAM estimate, and a quick way to open the original Hugging Face model card from inside the app.
@mdsahilak Oh you can click the model on explore tab to get to HF right away! We are thinking about adding stats like # of downloads / RAM estimate etc here. Thanks for your feedback!
@mdsahilak +1 to the license point especially - we've seen a lot of users get bitten by downloading a model and then realising it's non-commercial only. planning to flag that upfront on the card itself, probably alongside context length and quantization. open question for you: would you want a hard filter for it ("only show models I can use commercially") or just info displayed?
Quick one on storage - if I've already pulled Qwen 32B via Ollama and then discover it again in ModelHub, do you dedupe against the existing local file? Or do I end up with two copies eating 20GB? Well done guys overall
@artstavenka1 hey thanks for using! these are some problems we are actively trying to tackle. ideally - ModelHub should SURFACE issues like these for you to take actions! Thanks for feedback!
Report
Does ModelHub handle quantization format filtering during discovery — like surfacing only Q4_K_M builds based on available VRAM, or is model selection still manual?
@hirogure Right now we have a runs on my mac option that shows models that can be run within the memory of your ram and in MLX format - we plan to make it a bit more nuanced going forward.
Report
@sabesh MLX-only for now makes sense given the Apple Silicon focus. Curious if the roadmap includes GGUF/llama.cpp support — that'd cover the broader "runs locally" crowd beyond Mac users.
@thamibenjelloun Since the runtime is up-to you, there is no straightforward way to track this. Still trying to figure this one out!
Report
I usually encounter more issues with how to quickly validate whether a model is suitable for your scenario after obtaining it, and whether there is corresponding code that can quickly verify and reduce the time spent trying one by one. I would like to know if your tool has such a function or scenario.
@genglin Hey! this app is not meant for inferencing / running the model at all. This is upto you. We only want to make the model management layer neat and accessible.
Report
@sabesh Okay, I understand. Thank you for sharing. My old Mac probably can't run it, because I even have trouble running Ollama properly. But I can use your tool to filter out small models that are suitable for my machine.
Report
Local LLMs via menu bar is the right UX switching between models shouldn't require a browser tab. Does it handle model downloads itself or do you bring your own? Curious about the memory footprint running models in the background.
@imad_elkhafi You can download models from HuggingFace right from the app! And the downloaded models sit in the HuggingFace cache, so you don't have to worry about interoperability with loading models using MLX.
Report
@sabesh HuggingFace integration built in is the right call no friction to get models running. MLX support means it'll be fast on Apple Silicon too. Downloading this today.
Quick Player
TimeWave
The 'Runs on this Mac' feature for checking if a model can run on the hardware that I have is my favourite part! That's usually the first thing I want to know before downloading some huge model.
Two things I'd love to see: more pre-download details like license, context length, and RAM estimate, and a quick way to open the original Hugging Face model card from inside the app.
ModelHub
@mdsahilak Oh you can click the model on explore tab to get to HF right away! We are thinking about adding stats like # of downloads / RAM estimate etc here. Thanks for your feedback!
ModelHub
@mdsahilak +1 to the license point especially - we've seen a lot of users get bitten by downloading a model and then realising it's non-commercial only. planning to flag that upfront on the card itself, probably alongside context length and quantization. open question for you: would you want a hard filter for it ("only show models I can use commercially") or just info displayed?
TimeWave
TimeWave
Quick one on storage - if I've already pulled Qwen 32B via Ollama and then discover it again in ModelHub, do you dedupe against the existing local file? Or do I end up with two copies eating 20GB? Well done guys overall
ModelHub
@artstavenka1 hey thanks for using! these are some problems we are actively trying to tackle. ideally - ModelHub should SURFACE issues like these for you to take actions! Thanks for feedback!
Does ModelHub handle quantization format filtering during discovery — like surfacing only Q4_K_M builds based on available VRAM, or is model selection still manual?
ModelHub
@hirogure Right now we have a runs on my mac option that shows models that can be run within the memory of your ram and in MLX format - we plan to make it a bit more nuanced going forward.
@sabesh MLX-only for now makes sense given the Apple Silicon focus. Curious if the roadmap includes GGUF/llama.cpp support — that'd cover the broader "runs locally" crowd beyond Mac users.
Mailwarm
Does ModelHub also track which models are actually being used so you can archive the ones you never run?
ModelHub
@thamibenjelloun Since the runtime is up-to you, there is no straightforward way to track this. Still trying to figure this one out!
I usually encounter more issues with how to quickly validate whether a model is suitable for your scenario after obtaining it, and whether there is corresponding code that can quickly verify and reduce the time spent trying one by one. I would like to know if your tool has such a function or scenario.
ModelHub
@genglin Hey! this app is not meant for inferencing / running the model at all. This is upto you. We only want to make the model management layer neat and accessible.
@sabesh Okay, I understand. Thank you for sharing. My old Mac probably can't run it, because I even have trouble running Ollama properly. But I can use your tool to filter out small models that are suitable for my machine.
Local LLMs via menu bar is the right UX switching between models shouldn't require a browser tab. Does it handle model downloads itself or do you bring your own? Curious about the memory footprint running models in the background.
ModelHub
@imad_elkhafi You can download models from HuggingFace right from the app! And the downloaded models sit in the HuggingFace cache, so you don't have to worry about interoperability with loading models using MLX.
@sabesh HuggingFace integration built in is the right call no friction to get models running. MLX support means it'll be fast on Apple Silicon too. Downloading this today.