Common Installation Problems

The docs have more information on troubleshooting installation.

Two of the more common issues are described below (as well as in the docs).

Installing from PyPI

A common problem is pip install mlx does not find a matching distribution:

ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement mlx (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for mlx

If this happens you are probably using a non-native Python. The output of:

python -c "import platform; print(platform.processor())"

Should be arm not i386. You can fix this by using an environment with a native Python using Conda. Another option is to simply reinstall Conda and setup a new environment.

Installing from Source

You see the following error when you try to build:

error: unable to find utility "metal", not a developer tool or in PATH

To fix this, first make sure you have Xcode installed:

xcode-select --install

Then set the active developer directory:

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Start with the linked troubleshooting installation page and check how the PyPI and source-installation problems are currently covered. Done means the native-Python guidance and Xcode developer-directory commands are clearly documented there, with the reported error messages and fixes.