u/WatercressCivil3048

Update: yes I now realize that oMLX has its own panel. This is redundant if you're only using oMLX as a server, but my tool also control llama.cpp, which doesn't have one. So skip for oMLX.

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I got tired of opening Terminal every time I wanted to start my server or switch models, so I built a menu bar app. I've been using this for a little while now and felt it was good enough to share with others, who hopefully been thinking the same thing.

GitHub: https://github.com/cporto/llm-menubar
Download (DMG): https://github.com/cporto/llm-menubar/releases/tag/v0.2.1

What it does:

• Start / stop / restart your server from the menu bar
• Switch models — unloads the current one automatically, loads the new one
• llama.cpp + oMLX — switch backends from the menu
• Opens the server dashboard in your browser on start — llama.cpp's web UI or oMLX's admin panel
• First-run wizard — finds your binary, picks your models folder, sets up launchd for you
• Remembers your last model and auto-loads it on launch
• Live status — animated tray icon with elapsed timers while starting and loading
• One-model-at-a-time — keeps RAM in check, unloads before loading

Runs on launchd, not as a child process — server keeps running if you quit the app, and the app picks up a server that's already running.