Support

Getting started, requirements, and answers to the most common questions.

Getting started

• Download VxNewton and open the file.
• Drag VxNewton into your Applications folder.
• Open the app. The first launch downloads about 5.44 GB and runs a guided one-time setup, so it takes longer than normal. Later launches are much faster.
• Type a message and press return. That's it.

System requirements

• A Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later). Intel Macs are not supported.
• macOS 14 or newer.
• 16 GB of memory recommended.
• Roughly 13 GB of free disk space during first-run setup. About 5.5 GB remains in use after temporary setup files are removed.
• An internet connection is needed to download the app, complete the one-time setup, and use the optional web search feature. Ordinary chat is offline afterward.

Common questions

The first launch is taking a while

That's expected. On first launch VxNewton sets itself up and loads the model into memory for the first time. Leave it running — subsequent launches are much quicker.

Answers stream in slowly on my Mac

Generation speed depends on your Mac's chip and available memory. Closing very memory-hungry apps can help. Newer Apple Silicon chips generate noticeably faster.

It answered a question about current news incorrectly

Without web search, VxNewton answers from what the model already knows, which has a cutoff and can be out of date. For current events, use web search so the answer is grounded in live sources — you'll see which sites it used underneath the answer.

Does web search mean my chats go to the cloud?

No. Only the search queries and page fetches touch the web, and only when search is used. Your conversation itself is processed on your Mac. Details are on the privacy page.

Where are my chats stored?

Locally, in ~/Library/Application Support/VxNewton/. You can delete chats in the app, or delete that folder to remove everything.

Can I use VxNewton offline?

Yes — ordinary chat works without an internet connection once the app is installed. Web search naturally requires being online.