The short version
- Install MLX Node, link it to your MLX wallet and set your limits. Setup takes a few minutes and costs nothing.
- Your Mac runs small open language models with Apple's MLX. Other Macs check the answers, and rewards are worked out every hour.
- On a free seat, a wallet mines up to 1 MLX a day. A dedicated seat raises that ceiling. These are limits, not promises.
- Mined MLX is locked for 30 days from the day it's earned, or 3 to 20 days with a dedicated seat. Your wallet counts it up live while your Mac works.
1What you need
- A Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 14 or later. Intel Macs aren't supported.
- An internet connection. By default MLX Node only works while the Mac is plugged in.
- An MLX wallet. You can create one during setup, or first follow Create an MLX wallet.
- Nothing to buy. The app is free, and a dedicated seat is optional.
2Install and set up MLX Node
MLX Node lives in the menu bar. Everything happens in one panel that opens from its icon, and the first run walks you through five short screens.
- Download MLX Node, move it to your Applications folder and open it. Click its icon in the menu bar, then Get started.
- Connect your wallet. Press Connect and your MLX wallet opens right in the panel, or choose Use my browser instead. Sign in, or create a wallet. Unless you've just created it, the wallet asks you to confirm it's you with your passkey or recovery phrase. Then approve the Mac with Connect to your wallet's name.
- You're in charge. Set your limits (see below) and press Continue. You can change them any time in Settings.
- Measure this Mac. Run the test downloads a small model once (about 300 MB) and measures how many tokens a second your Mac writes. You can Skip for now.
- All set. Press Done. The menu bar icon turns orange while MLX Node is running.
3Choose when your Mac works
MLX Node works only when every one of your limits is met, and stops as soon as one isn't.
| Setting | What it does | New installs |
|---|---|---|
| After idle for | Off: you start and stop MLX Node yourself, and it works even while you use the Mac. 1 to 60 minutes: it starts after the Mac has been idle that long and stops the moment you're back. | Off |
| Only when plugged in | Waits for power, and stops if you unplug a laptop. | On |
| Memory MLX may use | The share of the Mac's memory a job may take, from 20% to 75%. | 50% |
| Hours | Any time, or Only at night between the hours you pick. | Any time |
| Stop when the Mac is | Warm or Hot: MLX Node lets the Mac cool down before it carries on. | Warm |
With After idle for off, the panel shows Start and Stop: once your Mac is linked, MLX Node works within your other limits until you press Stop. With an idle time set, it shows Pause and Resume instead. To stop for good, choose Quit MLX Node.
4What your Mac runs
Jobs are prompts for small open language models, most of them Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct in 4-bit, run with Apple's MLX framework. The answers go back to the network, which compares them with other Macs' answers to the same prompts and with known answers.
The panel shows what's happening: the live speed in tokens a second, Jobs today, Checks passed (how often your Mac's answers matched other Macs'), what your wallet mined today and what's locked.
The app is signed, notarized by Apple and sandboxed: it can't read your files, photos or messages. Is MLX safe? explains what it can see and what it sends.
5How rewards are worked out
Every hour (UTC), each linked Mac gets a score from three things multiplied together:
- Availability: the minutes it was ready to work or working, out of 60.
- Delivery: verified jobs it finished, against one job every two of those minutes.
- Quality: once it has been compared at least 10 times, the share of its answers that agreed with other Macs'.
The network releases a small share of its compute pool each hour and divides it by score and weight, with a ceiling per wallet. A wallet without a dedicated seat earns from its best Mac only, on a free seat; free seats share at most 10% of each hour. Each dedicated seat runs on one of your MLX Nodes, the biggest seat on the biggest Mac, and earns at the smaller of the two classes. A seat works like a stake: its units set your share of each hour's rewards. Every linked Mac gets the same jobs today; paid AI jobs, when they arrive, are planned to go to Macs with dedicated seats first.
| Your wallet has | Runs at full rate on | Mines up to, per day |
|---|---|---|
| A free seat only | Any Apple Silicon Mac | 1 MLX |
| A Nano seat | Any Apple Silicon Mac | 4 MLX |
| A Lite seat | Any Apple Silicon Mac | 8 MLX |
| A Core seat | Any Apple Silicon Mac | 20 MLX |
| A Pro seat | A Mac with a Pro or Max chip | 80 MLX |
| An Ultra seat | A Mac with an Ultra chip | 320 MLX |
Each hour's reward is paid in one public transaction from compute.mlx and added to that day's lock. Mined MLX unlocks 30 days after the day it was earned on a free seat, or after your seat's lock-in (3 to 20 days), and then you can send or sell it. MLX Tokens can fall in value or become worthless, so read the risks before you buy a dedicated seat.
6Watch what you've earned
- In the panel: Wallet mined today, the locked total and the most your Mac can earn a day where it is.
- In your wallet: while a Mac works, the Locked MLX row counts up live and reads Mining with the hourly rate; it says Paused when your Macs stop. Open it to see when each day's MLX unlocks.
- In Activity: one Mined on your Macs row per day.
- On the explorer: every hourly reward is a public transaction on explorer.mlx.app, and your Mac appears on MLX World at its approximate city.
- On iPhone and iPad: MLX.app lists your Macs and what they mined today, pauses or resumes them, edits their limits and tells you when one stops. Its App Store status is on the download page.
7Questions
- How much MLX can my Mac mine a day?
- Up to 1 MLX a day for a wallet on a free seat, and up to 20 with a Core seat, more with Pro and Ultra seats running on Macs of their class. These are ceilings: the real amount depends on how long your Mac works and how well it scores.
- Do I need a dedicated seat to mine MLX?
- No. MLX Node is free and mines on a free seat. A dedicated seat is optional: like a stake, it raises how much a Mac of its class can earn. It pays nothing up front, and what your Mac mines with it is locked for 3 to 20 days: the smaller the seat, the longer the lock.
- Do more Macs earn more?
- On a free seat, no: a wallet earns from its best Mac only. Each dedicated seat runs on one linked Mac, so a wallet with several seats needs a Mac for each to earn in full.
- When can I sell the MLX I mine?
- Each day's mining unlocks 30 days after that day on a free seat, or after your seat's lock-in (3 to 20 days) with a dedicated seat. Locked MLX counts toward your total but can't be sent or sold before its date.
- Will MLX Node slow my Mac down while I use it?
- With After idle for set, it stops the moment you touch the Mac. In manual mode it keeps working until you press Stop, within the memory limit you chose.
Sources
- Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct in 4-bithuggingface.co