Perplexity Computer can now run entirely on a Mac. According to Perplexity, the AI model, the agent harness and the task execution all stay on the device, so planning, reasoning and file processing happen locally unless the user chooses to send part of a job to the cloud.
Perplexity says the local mode runs Qwen 3.6 or PPLX Pro, a post-trained version of Qwen. Once a user grants permission, Computer reaches local files and supported apps including Notes, Messages, Mail and Numbers. The company's examples are a portfolio review of private holdings on a Mac mini, a client proposal built from confidential discovery notes, and a morning pass over Messages and Mail that ends in an action list in Notes.
The Mac app now offers two routes. Hybrid Compute, introduced on September 1, starts in the cloud and coordinates research and reasoning with local work on private files. Running Perplexity Computer locally starts on the Mac instead. A user can still authorize Computer to escalate to the cloud for current information, browser use and connected apps, and the local orchestrator can then call one of 15+ frontier models. Perplexity says the local route leaves the choice of where tasks run and how credits are spent to the user. The two routes compare as follows, with the Hybrid Compute figures from Perplexity's September launch.
| Mode | Hybrid Compute | Fully local |
|---|---|---|
| Task starts in | Cloud | Mac |
| Local models | Gemma 4 E4B, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B, a Perplexity model | Qwen 3.6, PPLX Pro |
| Memory | 24 GB unified memory required | 36 GB or more recommended |
Local Perplexity Computer is available to Pro, Max and Enterprise subscribers in the Perplexity Mac app on supported Apple silicon Macs. Perplexity gives “the new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro” as an example of such a machine and recommends 36 GB of memory or more, which is 12 GB above the 24 GB Hybrid Compute requires.
On safety, Perplexity says that with the model and agent both running locally, sensitive work can stay on the Mac from planning to the finished output. Perplexity says code and tool execution run in isolated sandbox environments with controlled access to files and connected apps, under the same security protocols as the cloud version of Perplexity Computer.
Setup runs through the Mac app. After downloading the latest version, users follow the in-app instructions to fetch a local model, then pick fully local for a task.
