Mesh-LLM · i386 · Aug 25, 2026 · Aug 25, 2026 · Aug 25, 2026 · Aug 25, 2026
diff --git a/.agents/skills/manage-ci/references/current-inventory.md b/.agents/skills/manage-ci/references/current-inventory.md
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ removable after this branch's runner contract is active on protected main.
 | `ci-{linux,macos,windows}-host-slice.yml` | Platform-pure neutral host producers; no empty cross-platform jobs |
 | `ci-{linux,macos,windows}-runtime-slice.yml` | Platform-pure native runtime producers |
 | `ci-{linux,macos,windows}-product-slice.yml` | Platform-pure composition-only product consumers |
-| `ci-platform-checks-slice.yml` | macOS portable/unit, Windows portable, and Windows log-store privacy ACL checks |
+| `ci-platform-checks-slice.yml` | macOS portable/unit, Apple provider, Windows portable, and Windows log-store privacy ACL checks |
 | `ci-linux-product-smoke-slice.yml`, `ci-macos-product-smoke-slice.yml` | Platform-local CPU, CUDA (`gpu-nvidia` self-hosted), two-node, Metal and model-download consumers; ROCm/Vulkan products remain package-verified pending eligible inference runners |
 | `ci-linux-sdk-slice.yml`, `ci-macos-sdk-slice.yml` | Platform-local Rust/Kotlin/Swift smoke consumers; SDK producers are independent top-level calls |
 | `ci-runner-contract-slice.yml` | Provider/cache/plan trust and main runner-image checks |
@@ -418,8 +418,11 @@ permission.
 ## Providers and variables
 
 GitHub-hosted labels are `ubuntu-24.04`, `ubuntu-24.04-arm`, `macos-15`, and
-`windows-2022`. Depot labels are selected only by `select-ci-runners`; no
-workflow accepts a raw provider label. Trusted main Linux requires
+`windows-2022`. The Apple-provider platform row requests the semantic
+`macos-apple` role, which centralized policy maps to the Xcode 27-capable
+`macos27` runner; unrelated macOS rows retain `macos-build`. Depot labels are
+selected only by `select-ci-runners`; no workflow accepts a raw provider label.
+Trusted main Linux requires
 `DEPOT_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true`. An exact same-repository PR revision may use the
 time-bounded exception only when `DEPOT_PR_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true` and both
 `DEPOT_PR_APPROVED_REF` and `DEPOT_PR_APPROVED_SHA` match; it expires on

diff --git a/.github/actions/compute-changes/action.yml b/.github/actions/compute-changes/action.yml
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ runs:
           fi
           if [[ -n "$DIRECT_SDK_INPUTS" ]]; then
             SDK_SMOKE_REQUIRED="true"
-          elif echo "$AFFECTED_CRATES" | jq -e 'index("mesh-llm-client") or index("mesh-llm-api-client") or index("mesh-llm-api-server") or index("mesh-llm-config") or index("mesh-llm-console-server") or index("mesh-llm-ffi") or index("mesh-llm-native-runtime") or index("mesh-llm-protocol") or index("mesh-llm-routing") or index("mesh-llm-types")' >/dev/null; then
+          elif echo "$AFFECTED_CRATES" | jq -e 'index("mesh-llm-client") or index("mesh-llm-api-client") or index("mesh-llm-api-server") or index("mesh-llm-config") or index("mesh-llm-console-server") or index("mesh-llm-ffi") or index("mesh-llm-native-runtime") or index("mesh-llm-provider-runtime") or index("mesh-llm-protocol") or index("mesh-llm-routing") or index("mesh-llm-types")' >/dev/null; then
             SDK_SMOKE_REQUIRED="true"
           fi
         fi

diff --git a/.github/actions/select-ci-runners/action.yml b/.github/actions/select-ci-runners/action.yml
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ outputs:
   runner_macos:
     description: macOS runner label selected by the centralized provider policy.
     value: ${{ steps.select.outputs.runner_macos }}
+  runner_macos_apple:
+    description: Apple Foundation Models-capable macOS runner label selected by the centralized provider policy.
+    value: ${{ steps.select.outputs.runner_macos_apple }}
   runner_windows:
     description: Windows runner label selected by the centralized provider policy.
     value: ${{ steps.select.outputs.runner_windows }}
@@ -288,6 +291,7 @@ runs:
           runner_macos=macos-15
           runner_windows=windows-2022
         fi
+        runner_macos_apple=macos27
 
         {
           echo "depot_enabled=$depot_enabled"
@@ -303,5 +307,6 @@ runs:
           echo "runner_arm_8=$runner_arm_8"
           echo "runner_arm_16=$runner_arm_16"
           echo "runner_macos=$runner_macos"
+          echo "runner_macos_apple=$runner_macos_apple"
           echo "runner_windows=$runner_windows"
         } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-platform-checks-slice.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-platform-checks-slice.yml
@@ -54,8 +54,9 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
     outputs:
       runner_macos: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.runner_macos }}
+      runner_macos_apple: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.runner_macos_apple }}
       runner_windows: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.runner_windows }}
-      runner_by_platform: ${{ steps.platform_runners.outputs.runner_by_platform }}
+      runner_by_role: ${{ steps.platform_runners.outputs.runner_by_role }}
       allow_depot_remote_cache: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.allow_depot_remote_cache }}
       allow_native_github_cache: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.allow_native_github_cache }}
     steps:
@@ -79,21 +80,22 @@ jobs:
           pr_approved_ref: ${{ vars.DEPOT_PR_APPROVED_REF }}
           pr_approved_sha: ${{ vars.DEPOT_PR_APPROVED_SHA }}
           force_hosted: ${{ inputs.force_hosted }}
-      - name: Map platform runners explicitly
+      - name: Map platform runner roles explicitly
         id: platform_runners
         env:
           RUNNER_MACOS: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.runner_macos }}
+          RUNNER_MACOS_APPLE: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.runner_macos_apple }}
           RUNNER_WINDOWS: ${{ steps.policy.outputs.runner_windows }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          printf 'runner_by_platform={"macos":"%s","windows":"%s"}\n' \
-            "$RUNNER_MACOS" "$RUNNER_WINDOWS" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          printf 'runner_by_role={"macos-build":"%s","macos-apple":"%s","windows-build":"%s"}\n' \
+            "$RUNNER_MACOS" "$RUNNER_MACOS_APPLE" "$RUNNER_WINDOWS" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
   platform_checks:
     name: Platform checks (${{ matrix.check.id }})
     needs: runner_policy
     if: ${{ inputs.platform_checks_matrix != '[]' }}
-    runs-on: ${{ fromJSON(needs.runner_policy.outputs.runner_by_platform)[matrix.check.platform] }}
+    runs-on: ${{ fromJSON(needs.runner_policy.outputs.runner_by_role)[matrix.check.runner_role] }}
     timeout-minutes: 75
     strategy:
       fail-fast: ${{ inputs.fail_fast }}
@@ -104,16 +106,17 @@ jobs:
       - uses: Mesh-LLM/mesh-llm/.github/actions/audit-depot-pr-isolation@ed07043b84d720aab30e75ed2f038f7042576f16
         with:
           original_event_name: ${{ inputs.original_event_name }}
-          depot_selected: ${{ startsWith(fromJSON(needs.runner_policy.outputs.runner_by_platform)[matrix.check.platform], 'depot-') }}
+          depot_selected: ${{ startsWith(fromJSON(needs.runner_policy.outputs.runner_by_role)[matrix.check.runner_role], 'depot-') }}
           allow_native_github_cache: ${{ needs.runner_policy.outputs.allow_native_github_cache }}
           allow_depot_remote_cache: ${{ needs.runner_policy.outputs.allow_depot_remote_cache }}
       - uses: actions/checkout@fbc6f3992d24b796d5a048ff273f7fcc4a7b6c09 # v5.1.0
         with:
           ref: ${{ inputs.source_sha || github.sha }}
           persist-credentials: false
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@4cda84d5c5c54efe2404f9d843567869ab1699d4 # stable 2026-07-16
+        if: ${{ matrix.check.kind != 'apple' }}
       - name: Configure macOS linker
-        if: ${{ matrix.check.platform == 'macos' }}
+        if: ${{ matrix.check.platform == 'macos' && matrix.check.kind != 'apple' }}
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-macos-lld
       - uses: actions/setup-python@ece7cb06caefa5fff74198d8649806c4678c61a1 # v6.3.0
         if: ${{ matrix.check.platform == 'windows' }}
@@ -188,3 +191,14 @@ jobs:
           cargo test --locked -p model-artifact --lib
           cargo test --locked -p mesh-llm-host-runtime --lib
           cargo test --locked -p mesh-llm --lib
+      - name: Install just
+        if: ${{ matrix.check.kind == 'apple' }}
+        uses: taiki-e/install-action@3d23c1bbdafe696dfccad2664945a04f47d03dc3 # just
+        with:
+          tool: just
+      - name: Build and test the Apple provider
+        if: ${{ matrix.check.kind == 'apple' }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          just apple::build
+          just apple::test
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-precheck.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-precheck.yml
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ jobs:
             crates/mesh-llm-hardware-profile/ \
             crates/mesh-llm-identity/ \
             crates/mesh-llm-native-runtime/ \
+            crates/mesh-llm-provider-runtime/ \
             crates/mesh-llm-release-footer/ \
             crates/mesh-llm-protocol/ \
             crates/mesh-llm-routing/ \

diff --git a/.omo/specs/pr-ci-optimization.md b/.omo/specs/pr-ci-optimization.md
@@ -148,7 +148,8 @@ credentials may differ.
   backend, running in parallel with the matching host.
 - ci-{linux,macos,windows}-product-slice.yml: platform-local composition after
   matching host and runtime producers succeed.
-- ci-platform-checks-slice.yml: macOS portable/unit and Windows checks.
+- ci-platform-checks-slice.yml: macOS portable/unit, a dedicated Apple-provider
+  row on the centrally mapped `macos-apple` role, and Windows checks.
 - ci-linux-product-smoke-slice.yml and ci-macos-product-smoke-slice.yml:
   platform-local inference, backend, two-node, Metal and model-download
   consumers using only composed artifacts.

diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
@@ -245,6 +245,7 @@ Shared foundations:
 - `mesh-llm-identity/` — owner identity and envelope crypto primitives.
 - `mesh-llm-guardrails/` — guardrail and compaction primitives for OpenAI-compatible paths.
 - `mesh-llm-hardware-profile/`, `mesh-llm-native-runtime/`, `mesh-llm-runtime-install/` — hardware profile detection, native runtime manifest/selection, runtime download/install/cache.
+- `mesh-llm-provider-runtime/` — signed executable-provider manifests, selection, download verification, and immutable cache installation; separate from Skippy-native libraries.
 - `mesh-llm-plugin/` — plugin runtime/DSL primitives.
 - `mesh-llm-plugin-manager/` — plugin package management (catalog, install, store).
 - `mesh-llm-skills/` — agent skill data model and installer primitives.

diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ members = [
     "crates/mesh-llm-hardware-profile",
     "crates/mesh-llm-identity",
     "crates/mesh-llm-native-runtime",
+    "crates/mesh-llm-provider-runtime",
     "crates/mesh-llm-protocol",
     "crates/mesh-llm-release-footer",
     "crates/mesh-llm-routing",

diff --git a/Justfile b/Justfile
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # Distributed LLM Inference — build & run tasks
 
+mod apple 'providers/apple/Justfile'
+
 llama_dir := env("MESH_LLM_LLAMA_DIR", ".deps/llama.cpp")
 llama_build_root := env("MESH_LLM_LLAMA_BUILD_ROOT", ".deps/llama-build")
 mesh_dir := "crates/mesh-llm"

diff --git a/Package.swift b/Package.swift
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ let hasRemoteFFIXCFramework =
     !remoteFFIXCFrameworkURL.contains("__MESH_SWIFT_RELEASE_TAG__")
     && !remoteFFIXCFrameworkChecksum.contains("__MESH_SWIFT_RELEASE_CHECKSUM__")
 
-var meshLLMDependencies: [Target.Dependency] = []
+var meshLLMDependencies: [Target.Dependency] = [
+    .target(
+        name: "MeshLLMAppleProviderResources",
+        condition: .when(platforms: [.macOS])
+    ),
+]
 var packageTargets: [Target] = []
 
 if hasLocalFFIXCFramework {
@@ -62,6 +67,7 @@ let package = Package(
                 .linkedFramework("Accelerate"),
                 .linkedFramework("AppKit", .when(platforms: [.macOS])),
                 .linkedFramework("CoreGraphics"),
+                .linkedFramework("CoreWLAN", .when(platforms: [.macOS])),
                 .linkedFramework("Foundation"),
                 .linkedFramework("Metal"),
                 .linkedFramework("MetalKit"),
@@ -74,5 +80,10 @@ let package = Package(
             dependencies: ["MeshLLM"],
             path: "sdk/swift/Tests/MeshLLMTests"
         ),
+        .target(
+            name: "MeshLLMAppleProviderResources",
+            path: "sdk/swift/Sources/MeshLLMAppleProviderResources",
+            resources: [.copy("Resources/apple")]
+        ),
     ] + packageTargets
 )
diff --git a/ci/ci.md b/ci/ci.md
@@ -231,7 +231,8 @@ runtime producers are not duplicated.
   producers selected by backend rows.
 - `ci-{linux,macos,windows}-product-slice.yml` — composition-only consumers
   that join only their matching immutable host and runtime artifacts.
-- `ci-platform-checks-slice.yml` — macOS portable/unit, Windows portable, and
+- `ci-platform-checks-slice.yml` — macOS portable/unit, an Apple-provider row
+  on the centrally selected `macos-apple` runner role, Windows portable, and
   focused Windows log-store privacy ACL checks.
 - `ci-linux-product-smoke-slice.yml` and
   `ci-macos-product-smoke-slice.yml` — platform-local CPU core, CUDA,
@@ -343,6 +344,9 @@ from being duplicated into every composed product artifact.
 ## Provider and cache policy
 
 `.github/actions/select-ci-runners` maps semantic roles to approved labels.
+The `macos-apple` role maps to the Xcode 27-capable `macos27` runner and is
+used only by the Apple-provider platform row; other macOS work retains the
+normal `macos-build` policy.
 Fork pull requests use GitHub-hosted runners. Same-repository PRs normally do
 too, but an exact maintainer-approved merge ref and head SHA may use Depot under
 the time-bounded cache-risk exception in `ci/DEPOT_PR_RISK_EXCEPTION.md`. The

diff --git a/ci/slices.yml b/ci/slices.yml
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@
     "backend-vulkan": ["core"]
   },
   "platform_domain_rows": {
-  "platform-macos": ["macos-portable", "macos-unit"],
+  "platform-macos": ["macos-portable", "macos-unit", "macos-apple"],
     "platform-windows": ["windows-portable"],
     "platform-windows-storage": ["windows-log-store"]
   },
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@
   "platform_rows": [
   {"id": "macos-portable", "platform": "macos", "architecture": "arm64", "runner_role": "macos-build", "kind": "portable"},
   {"id": "macos-unit", "platform": "macos", "architecture": "arm64", "runner_role": "macos-build", "kind": "unit"},
+  {"id": "macos-apple", "platform": "macos", "architecture": "arm64", "runner_role": "macos-apple", "kind": "apple"},
     {"id": "windows-portable", "platform": "windows", "architecture": "amd64", "runner_role": "windows-build", "kind": "portable"},
     {"id": "windows-log-store", "platform": "windows", "architecture": "amd64", "runner_role": "windows-build", "kind": "log-store"}
   ],

diff --git a/crates/mesh-client/src/network/affinity.rs b/crates/mesh-client/src/network/affinity.rs
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ mod tests {
             target: target.clone(),
             learn_prefix_hash: None,
             cached_target: None,
+            affinity_selected: false,
         };
         let prepared: PreparedTargets = PreparedTargets {
             ordered: vec![target],

diff --git a/crates/mesh-client/tests/mesh_types.rs b/crates/mesh-client/tests/mesh_types.rs
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ fn model_runtime_descriptor_not_ready_by_default() {
         identity_hash: None,
         context_length: None,
         ready: false,
+        provider_kind: None,
+        model_version: None,
+        max_concurrent_requests: None,
+        active_requests: None,
+        queued_requests: None,
     };
     assert!(d.advertised_context_length().is_none());
 }
@@ -45,6 +50,11 @@ fn model_runtime_descriptor_ready_returns_context_length() {
         identity_hash: None,
         context_length: Some(4096),
         ready: true,
+        provider_kind: None,
+        model_version: None,
+        max_concurrent_requests: None,
+        active_requests: None,
+        queued_requests: None,
     };
     assert_eq!(d.advertised_context_length(), Some(4096));
 }

diff --git a/crates/mesh-llm-embedded-runtime/README.md b/crates/mesh-llm-embedded-runtime/README.md
@@ -34,3 +34,8 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
 }
 ```
 
+Provider-only hosts can omit `.model(...)` and supply one or more packaged
+provider roots with `.provider_runtime_root(...)`. This path does not require a
+Skippy native runtime. Provider roots are SDK-owned resource locations; bundle
+validation, selection, launch, health, restart, routing, and shutdown remain
+owned by the shared host runtime.
diff --git a/crates/mesh-llm-embedded-runtime/src/lib.rs b/crates/mesh-llm-embedded-runtime/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,9 +6,10 @@ pub use mesh_llm_host_runtime::sdk::{
     EmbeddedMeshHttpConfig, EmbeddedMeshLogFormat, EmbeddedMeshNetworkConfig,
     EmbeddedMeshNodeBuilder, EmbeddedMeshNodeConfig, EmbeddedMeshNodeHandle, EmbeddedMeshNodeMode,
     EmbeddedMeshNodeStatus, EmbeddedMeshRequirementsConfig, EmbeddedMeshServingConfig,
-    EmbeddedMeshStorageConfig, EmbeddedServeConfig, EmbeddedServeHandle, EmbeddedServeMode,
-    EmbeddedServeStatus, EmbeddedServingController, EmbeddedTrustPolicy,
-    SIGNED_JOIN_TOKEN_MIN_PROTOCOL_VERSION, start_embedded_node, start_embedded_serve,
+    EmbeddedMeshStorageConfig, EmbeddedProviderRuntimeConfig, EmbeddedServeConfig,
+    EmbeddedServeHandle, EmbeddedServeMode, EmbeddedServeStatus, EmbeddedServingController,
+    EmbeddedTrustPolicy, SIGNED_JOIN_TOKEN_MIN_PROTOCOL_VERSION, start_embedded_node,
+    start_embedded_serve,
 };
 
 pub mod config {

diff --git a/crates/mesh-llm-ffi/src/handles.rs b/crates/mesh-llm-ffi/src/handles.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ use mesh_llm_sdk::node::MeshNode;
 
 #[cfg(feature = "embedded-runtime")]
 use mesh_llm_sdk::embedded_runtime::EmbeddedServingController;
+#[cfg(feature = "embedded-runtime")]
+use mesh_llm_sdk::provider_host::ProviderHost;
 
 #[derive(uniffi::Object)]
 pub struct MeshClientHandle {
@@ -26,3 +28,10 @@ pub struct ConsoleHandle {
     pub(crate) inner: Mutex<Option<mesh_llm_sdk::console::ConsoleServerHandle>>,
     pub(crate) url: String,
 }
+
+#[derive(uniffi::Object)]
+pub struct ProviderHostHandle {
+    #[cfg(feature = "embedded-runtime")]
+    pub(crate) host: tokio::sync::Mutex<Option<ProviderHost>>,
+    pub(crate) api_base_url: String,
+}
diff --git a/crates/mesh-llm-ffi/src/lib.rs b/crates/mesh-llm-ffi/src/lib.rs
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ mod runtime_blocking;
 pub use client::{create_auto_client, create_client};
 pub use errors::FfiError;
 pub use events::ClientEvent;
-pub use handles::{ConsoleHandle, MeshClientHandle, MeshNodeHandle};
+pub use handles::{ConsoleHandle, MeshClientHandle, MeshNodeHandle, ProviderHostHandle};
 pub use identity::generate_owner_keypair_hex;
 pub use model_types::{
     CapabilityLevel, CleanupPolicy, CleanupResult, DeleteModelOptions, DeleteModelResult,
@@ -47,9 +47,9 @@ pub use native_runtime_types::{
     NativeRuntimeProgressListener, NativeRuntimePruneModeNative, NativeRuntimePruneResultNative,
     NativeRuntimeVerificationPolicyNative,
 };
-pub use node::{create_auto_node, create_node};
+pub use node::{create_auto_node, create_node, start_provider_host};
 pub use public_mesh::discover_public_meshes;
 pub use request_types::{
     ChatMessageNative, ChatRequestNative, ClientStatus, ConsoleOptionsNative, ModelNative,
-    PublicMesh, PublicMeshQuery, ResponsesRequestNative,
+    ProviderRuntimeOptionsNative, PublicMesh, PublicMeshQuery, ResponsesRequestNative,
 };