JetBrains has introduced Junie Local, a free AI coding agent that runs entirely on your Mac, eliminating the need for cloud-based models and token costs. The tool requires a powerful machine, specifically an Apple M5 Mac with 64GB of RAM.

According to a JetBrains blog post, Junie Local installs with a single command and takes about 20GB of storage. The system uses a 27B parameter model, Qwen3.6-27B, running at 4-bit precision. This local setup ensures data privacy and no per-token fees.

The hardware requirement is steep: Apple's recently announced Mac mini with the M5 Pro processor, priced at $2,699, meets the spec. JetBrains chose the M5 due to its Neural Accelerator's 8-bit arithmetic instructions, which boosts prefill throughput by around 40%.

In testing, Junie Local performed on par with Sonnet 4.5 at a 10,000-token reasoning limit, while GPT-5 at medium effort scored slightly higher. JetBrains acknowledges the high entry barrier but is working to lower memory requirements and expand support to other hardware, including DGX Spark and RTX 5090 GPUs.