# Best ai & automation apps for Mac

> Assistants, agents and automation that run where you work. 8 native apps, hand-picked by MacWorthy. Facts checked 2026-10-19.

Editor's picks: Enconvo.

## Compared

| App | Price | Mac App Store | Homebrew | Open source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Enconvo](https://macworthy.com/apps/enconvo/) | Free + Pro | No | No | No |
| [ChatGPT](https://macworthy.com/apps/chatgpt/) | Free + Pro | No | `chatgpt` | No |
| [BoltAI](https://macworthy.com/apps/boltai/) | One-time purchase | No | `boltai` | No |
| [Elephas](https://macworthy.com/apps/elephas/) | Subscription | No | `elephas` | No |
| [Keyboard Maestro](https://macworthy.com/apps/keyboard-maestro/) | One-time purchase | No | `keyboard-maestro` | No |
| [Hammerspoon](https://macworthy.com/apps/hammerspoon/) | Open source | No | `hammerspoon` | MIT |
| [SkillKeeper](https://macworthy.com/apps/skillkeeper/) | Free + Pro | No | No | No |
| [Osaurus](https://macworthy.com/apps/osaurus/) | Open source | No | `osaurus` | MIT |

## The apps

- **[Enconvo](https://macworthy.com/apps/enconvo.md)** (editor's pick): An AI agent launcher that works across your whole Mac. Enconvo brings chat, dictation, screen context and hundreds of plugins behind one shortcut, with agents that can use your apps, files and browser.
- **[ChatGPT](https://macworthy.com/apps/chatgpt.md)**: OpenAI's assistant, a shortcut away. The native ChatGPT app opens with ⌥Space, works with other apps on your Mac and supports voice conversations.
- **[BoltAI](https://macworthy.com/apps/boltai.md)**: Every AI model, in one native app. BoltAI connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, local models and more, with AI commands you can run inside any app.
- **[Elephas](https://macworthy.com/apps/elephas.md)**: A personal AI writer and knowledge assistant. Elephas rewrites, replies and summarises in any app, and builds a private knowledge base from your notes and documents.
- **[Keyboard Maestro](https://macworthy.com/apps/keyboard-maestro.md)**: Automate anything you can do with a Mac. Build macros from hundreds of actions triggered by keys, apps, time or devices. The most capable automation tool on the platform.
- **[Hammerspoon](https://macworthy.com/apps/hammerspoon.md)**: Script your Mac with Lua. Hammerspoon bridges macOS APIs to Lua, so you can script windows, hotkeys, Wi-Fi events, USB devices and more.
- **[SkillKeeper](https://macworthy.com/apps/skillkeeper.md)**: A menu bar ledger of what Claude Code spends tokens on. SkillKeeper reads Claude Code's local session files and breaks token use down by skill, agent, MCP server and session, warns before the five-hour and weekly limits run out, and points out skills that load on every request but never fire.
- **[Osaurus](https://macworthy.com/apps/osaurus.md)**: A local home for AI agents, written in Swift. Osaurus runs agents with memory, tools and a code sandbox on your Mac, using local models or your own cloud API keys. It serves OpenAI, Anthropic and Ollama compatible APIs on one local port and speaks MCP in both directions.

HTML version: https://macworthy.com/categories/ai/