DrawThings

DrawThings is an open-source macOS application for running Stable Diffusion and other diffusion models locally on Apple Silicon. It provides a native Mac interface for AI image generation without requiring cloud services, a Python environment, or technical setup.

Overview

DrawThings packages Stable Diffusion models into a standalone macOS app. It runs entirely on-device using Apple’s Metal framework for GPU acceleration on Apple Silicon chips. Users can generate images from text prompts, perform inpainting/outpainting, and use ControlNet guidance — all without leaving their desktop or sending data to external servers.

Key Features

  • Native macOS App: Built specifically for macOS with a clean, native SwiftUI interface
  • Apple Silicon Optimized: Uses Metal Performance Shaders (MPS) for efficient GPU inference on M1/M2/M3/M4
  • Offline Image Generation: No cloud dependency — all inference runs locally
  • CoreML Support: Converts and runs models in Apple’s CoreML format for maximum performance
  • ControlNet: Supports ControlNet models for guided image generation (canny, depth, pose, etc.)
  • Inpainting & Outpainting: Edit existing images with diffusion-based fill
  • Model Management: Download and manage models from within the app
  • Multiple Architectures: Supports Stable Diffusion 1.5, 2.x, SDXL, and other diffusion variants
  • Open Source: The project is open source (Apache 2.0 / GPL depending on components)

Licensing

DrawThings is open source (Apache 2.0 License). The application is free to use.

See DrawThings GitHub for license details.

Official Resources