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AI Rephrase

Rephrase selected text with on-device AI.

Apple Intelligence backend
Ollama backend
Rephrase result
History window

Writing in a non-native language means constantly second-guessing your phrasing. AI Rephrase fixes that — select awkward text anywhere (Slack, email, docs, IDE), press one shortcut, and it gets rephrased in-place.

Everything happens locally — through Ollama or Apple Intelligence. Your text never leaves your Mac. No API keys, no cloud, no subscriptions.

Ollama is the recommended backend. Apple's on-device model (~3B) struggles with non-English text, tends to answer questions instead of rephrasing them, and frequently triggers false-positive content filters. Ollama with a model like gemma3:12b handles all of this without issues.

All rephrasings are saved in a persistent, searchable history window so you can review or reuse them later.

$ brew install --cask alexrett/tap/ai-rephrase
Download DMG Source on GitHub

Setting up Ollama (recommended)

  1. Install Ollama: brew install ollama
  2. Pull a model: ollama pull gemma3:12b
  3. Start the server: ollama serve
  4. AI Rephrase will detect it automatically on launch

Apple Intelligence (limited)

The built-in Apple model is small (~3B params). It only supports English, may refuse to process some text, and sometimes answers questions instead of rephrasing them.

  1. Open System Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri
  2. Turn Apple Intelligence on
  3. Set both Mac language and Siri language to English (US)
  4. Wait for the on-device model to download

Releases

v1.1.0Mar 15, 2026

What's New

Ollama Fallback

  • Automatic fallback to local Ollama when Apple Intelligence is unavailable
  • Manual backend switcher in the menu bar popover
  • Ollama model picker — choose any locally installed model

Fixed Apple Intelligence rephrasing

  • Uses structured output (@Generable) to prevent Apple's on-device model from answering questions instead of rephrasing
  • Friendly error messages for unsupported language and guardrail violations

Improvements

  • Accessibility permission prompt on first launch
  • macOS notifications for errors and completion
  • Rephrasing no longer cancels when menu bar popover closes
v1.0.0Mar 15, 2026

AI Rephrase v1.0.0

Native macOS menu bar app that rephrases selected text using Apple Intelligence.

Features

  • Works in any application — select, shortcut, done
  • On-device AI via Apple FoundationModels — no API keys, no cloud
  • Customizable keyboard shortcut (default: ⌥⇧⌘R)
  • Persistent rephrase history with search
  • Auto paste-back of rephrased text

Requirements

  • macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later
  • Apple Silicon (M1+)
  • Apple Intelligence enabled

Install

brew install --cask alexrett/tap/ai-rephrase

Or download AiRephrase.dmg below.

platform macOS 26+ (Tahoe)
architecture universal (arm64 + x86_64)
framework SwiftUI + FoundationModels
ai backend Apple Intelligence or Ollama (auto-detect)
shortcut ⌥⇧⌘R (customizable)
license MIT
privacy local inference, no data leaves Mac
update brew upgrade --cask alexrett/tap/ai-rephrase
uninstall brew uninstall --cask alexrett/tap/ai-rephrase