LanternDownload

The app you were using
needs Lantern for its AI.

Lantern is a small companion app that lives in your Mac's menu bar. With your permission, supported apps can use Apple Intelligence on your Mac or a Codex or Claude CLI already signed in there. Install it once, approve the app, and carry on where you left off.

Download for MacWhat you need

What you need before you start.

01

A supported model

Use Apple Intelligence on a supported macOS 26 Mac, or install and sign in to the Codex or Claude CLI.

02

macOS 14 or later

Lantern runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

03

Node.js 22 or later

The menu bar app uses Node.js to run Lantern's local service.

Set up Lantern and get back to your app.

01

Install and start Lantern

Open the Mac app. It checks Apple Intelligence and finds Codex and Claude; choose which models apps may use.

02

Return to the app

Press its Connect Lantern button again. Lantern opens an approval window on your Mac.

03

Check the name and address

Approve the app only if the name and exact web address match the site you were on.

04

Carry on where you left off

The app's AI features now use your on-device Apple model or your own signed-in subscription.

What approving an app allows.

What the app can send

  • Once approved, the app can send AI requests from its exact web address without asking you again for every prompt.
  • Every connection can send text prompts and receive text. A compatible Codex connection can also send reference images and receive a generated image.

What leaves your Mac

  • Apple's model state and CLI logins stay on your Mac — the app never receives them. Website prompts and results still pass through the app and Lantern's relay.
  • Apple Intelligence performs inference on device. Codex and Claude run online against your normal account limits. With guided setup, Claude text requests start without tools. Codex text requests are read-only, though your own Codex settings and tools may still let it read files.

How to stop access

  • Stop Lantern from the menu bar to pause every approved app at once. The menu cannot remove a single app yet; running setup again and restarting Lantern clears every approval.
  • Disconnecting inside an app only forgets that browser's connection. It does not remove the approval from Lantern.

Only approve apps you trust — the same judgement you'd use before signing into any site.

Lantern's macOS menu showing configured models and approved apps

Install Lantern, then go back to the app that sent you here.

Download for Mac

No app in mind? Try the live demo once Lantern is running.