llama.cpp and MLX: the inference engines powering local AI
Underneath the user-facing tools like LM Studio and Ollama, there are two key inference engines worth knowing. llama.cpp powers a lot of local model inference across platforms. MLX matters specifically if you're on Apple Silicon — it's optimized for that hardware. Then, if you're thinking about shipping real on-device apps in the Google ecosystem, that's where Google AI Edge and LiteRT LM come in. Google AI Edge is the broader on-device AI development world, and LiteRT LM is the runtime layer specifically for language models. This is what you study when you want to move from 'I ran a model on my laptop' to 'I want this model inside an iOS app, Android app, web app, or desktop app.'
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