Install Ekorbia
Ekorbia is a native macOS desktop app that runs AI models on your own machine — and it comes with everything it needs to do that built in. There’s nothing else to install first.
Install the app
Download the latest Ekorbia DMG from the website and drag the app to your Applications folder. The first launch may show a Gatekeeper prompt — right-click the app icon and choose Open if macOS won’t let you double-click it.
First launch
On first launch Ekorbia runs a brief onboarding tour covering the hotkeys, attachments, memory file, and prompts library. You can skip it any time with Esc, and re-open it later from Settings → General → Help → Show tour again.
Right after the tour, Ekorbia helps you get a model: it recommends one sized for your Mac and downloads it with a progress bar — no terminal, no separate install. See Choose a model for the details.
How Ekorbia runs models
Out of the box, Ekorbia runs models itself with a bundled engine. You pick a model from the built-in catalog, it downloads, and you start chatting. That’s the default and the easiest path — most people never need anything else.
If you’d rather bring your own runtime, Ekorbia also works with two other backends, selectable under Settings → Backend:
- Ollama — if you already use it or prefer it. Install it separately, then pick it under Settings → Backend.
- A custom endpoint — any OpenAI-compatible server (LM Studio, llama.cpp’s
llama-server, vLLM, …). Point Ekorbia at its URL under Settings → Backend.
See Choosing a backend for the trade-offs.
What gets created on your machine
On first run, Ekorbia creates a few things — all on your local disk, none on a server:
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| App data folder | macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.ekorbia.desktop/Linux: ~/.local/share/com.ekorbia.desktop/Windows: %APPDATA%\com.ekorbia.desktop\ | Chats, settings, and attachment metadata |
| Models folder | <app data>/models/ | GGUF model files you download for the bundled engine |
| Prompts folder | ~/Documents/Ekorbia/Prompts/ | Your prompts library (28 built-ins shipped) |
| Memory file | ~/Documents/Ekorbia/memory.md | Your personal context file (empty by default) |
The prompts folder and memory file paths are configurable in Settings. The app data and models folders are fixed by each OS’s convention.