I built a CLI tool to manage oMLX’s menu bar
Got tired of clicking around a menu bar every time I wanted to start my server or switch models, so I built a CLI. Been using this for a while now and figured someone else has probably also been quietly wishing their menu bar icon was just… text in a terminal.
GitHub: https://github.com/omlxMaster/llm-cli
Install: brew install llm-cli (or whatever)
What it does:
- llmctl start / stop / restart — your server, from the terminal where it belongs
- llmctl switch <model> — unloads the current one automatically, loads the new one
- llmctl backend llama.cpp|omlx — switch backends with a flag instead of a dropdown
- Prints the dashboard URL on start instead of opening a browser tab you didn’t ask for
- First-run wizard — llmctl init finds your binary, picks your models folder, sets up launchd for you
- Remembers your last model in a config file and auto-loads it on launch
- Live status via llmctl status — no animated tray icon, just numbers, because elapsed time is a number
- 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 your terminal, and the CLI picks up a server that’s already running. No Dock icon, no menu bar real estate, no mouse required.