Apple Seeds macOS 27 'Tahoe' Beta 4 to Developers With On-Device AI Agent APIs

Apple on Wednesday seeded the fourth developer beta of macOS 27, code-named Tahoe, with a new Software Development Kit that lets any app spawn persistent, background AI agents capable of planning across multiple applications. It is the first time Apple has exposed the agent capability to third parties.

What the SDK Does

The new AgentKit framework, sitting on top of the existing Foundation Models runtime introduced in macOS 26, allows an app to spin up an agent that can observe the user's screen with permission, invoke other apps via the standard App Intents system, and persist state between sessions. The agent runs locally on Apple silicon using a quantized variant of Apple's 3B-parameter on-device model, with optional handoff to Private Cloud Compute for harder queries.

「Tahoe turns the Mac from a tool you operate to a tool that operates for you — but only with the apps you allow,」 said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, in a briefing with developers.

Developer Reaction

Early third-party demos include a Finder agent that organizes files based on natural-language rules, a Mail agent that drafts replies from bullet points, and a Safari agent that summarizes research across multiple tabs. The full set of APIs is gated behind an entitlement that Apple will approve on a per-app basis, with stricter rules for apps that handle sensitive data.

Privacy Posture

Apple's pitch is that the on-device model means most agent actions never leave the machine, and that any cloud handoff is processed through the same blinded-relay architecture that the company introduced for its private AI offering. Privacy researchers will get an early look at the SDK ahead of the public beta, which Apple has slated for August 12.

macOS 27 Tahoe is expected to ship to all compatible Macs in October, with the agent APIs available immediately at launch.