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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.darkbloom.dev/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

If you have an Apple Silicon Mac sitting idle for part of the day, you can put its unified memory and GPU to work serving AI inference requests. Darkbloom’s provider agent connects outbound over WebSocket — no port forwarding or firewall changes needed — and your prompts are cryptographically isolated from your own process. This guide covers everything from installation to your first confirmed earnings.
1

Check your hardware

The provider agent requires Apple Silicon and enough unified memory to hold the model you want to serve.
RequirementMinimum
ChipApple Silicon M1 or later
macOS14 Sonoma or later
Unified memory16 GB (36 GB recommended for most models)
Run this command to confirm your chip:
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | grep "Chip\|Memory:"
You should see something like Chip: Apple M2 Pro and Memory: 32 GB. If your chip says “Intel”, the provider agent won’t run on your machine.
The minimum RAM required varies by model. Most models in the catalog need at least 36 GB. Check the model catalog before downloading.
2

Install the provider agent

Run the one-line installer. It downloads and installs the darkbloom binary, a bundled Python 3.12 runtime, vllm-mlx, and the Secure Enclave tooling. No prerequisites required.
curl -fsSL https://api.darkbloom.dev/install.sh | bash
The installer places the darkbloom binary on your PATH. Once it finishes, confirm the installation worked:
darkbloom --version
3

Link your Darkbloom account

Your Mac needs to be associated with your Darkbloom account so earnings can be credited to you. Run the login command, which starts a device authorization flow:
darkbloom login
You’ll see a short code and a URL. Open the URL in your browser, sign in to your Darkbloom account, and approve the device. The CLI polls for confirmation and exits once the link is established.
If you don’t have a Darkbloom account yet, go to darkbloom.dev and sign up first.
4

Choose a model and start serving

List the models available to download based on your hardware:
darkbloom models list
The output shows each model’s RAM requirement alongside your available unified memory. Pick a model your Mac can fit, then start serving. The first run downloads the model weights — expect this to take several minutes depending on your connection.
darkbloom serve
darkbloom serve runs in the foreground and prints connection status and request throughput. To run as a background daemon instead:
darkbloom start
On a 36 GB Mac, qwen3.5-27b-claude-opus-8bit (27 GB) or mlx-community/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-8bit (28 GB) are good fits. On a 128 GB Mac, mlx-community/Qwen3.5-122B-A10B-8bit unlocks the highest-quality tier.
5

Check status and earnings

Once the provider is running, use these commands to monitor it.Connection and hardware status:
darkbloom status
This shows your chip, available memory, current model, and whether you’re connected to the coordinator.Earnings:
darkbloom earnings
This shows your total earnings and a breakdown by session.Diagnose problems:
darkbloom doctor
darkbloom doctor runs a series of checks — SIP status, Secure Boot, memory, network connectivity — and reports any issues that would prevent the provider from attesting correctly.

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Managing the daemon

darkbloom start    # start as background daemon
darkbloom stop     # stop the daemon
darkbloom status   # hardware and connection info
darkbloom update   # check for and apply updates

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Scheduling availability windows

By default the provider runs whenever darkbloom start is active. You can restrict it to specific hours so it only serves during times you’re not using your Mac. Edit ~/.config/eigeninference/provider.toml: 
[schedule]
enabled = true

[[schedule.windows]]
days = ["mon", "tue", "wed", "thu", "fri"]
start = "22:00"
end   = "08:00"
Outside the scheduled windows, the provider disconnects and shuts down the inference backend, freeing GPU memory for your own use.

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macOS menu bar app

A native SwiftUI menu bar app is also available if you prefer a GUI. It provides one-click start/stop, a live throughput display, idle detection (pauses automatically when you’re actively using your Mac), and an earnings dashboard. You can download it from darkbloom.dev.
Darkbloom is an experimental research prototype. Provider software may have breaking changes between releases. Run darkbloom update regularly to stay current.