CHARL-E

Stable Diffusion on your Mac in 1 click

Free

Description

CHARL-E is a simple Mac app that packages Stable Diffusion into an easy-to-use, offline experience. Users can create images from natural language prompts with just one click, all while running locally on their M1 or M2 Macs without any need for complex installation or an internet connection.

Open source and privacy-focused, CHARL-E automatically handles Stable Diffusion weights, offers flexible configuration options, and provides a built-in gallery to manage your creations. No technical expertise is required; download the app, enter your prompt, and watch your ideas come to life.

Key Features

One-Click Stable Diffusion: Generate images with a single click on your Mac.
Automatic Weight Downloads: Downloads Stable Diffusion weights automatically, with the option to use custom weights.
Offline Operation: Runs fully offline after initial install; nothing is sent to servers.
Model Configuration: Customize sampler, image number, seeds, weights, and save location.
Gallery Mode: View and manage all generated images in one place.
Super Simple UI: No command line or python scripts, just enter a prompt and generate.
Open Source: Code is available on GitHub for transparency and customization.

Use Cases

Creating digital artwork from text prompts
Generating concept images for projects
Producing illustrations for presentations or blogs
Learning and experimenting with AI-generated art
Offline creative work without internet connectivity
Managing and organizing generated images

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Stable Diffusion?

Stable Diffusion is a latent text-to-image diffusion model that allows you to create images from natural language prompts. It's similar to DALL-E but open source.

What's the difference between the two downloads? What is no weights?

The normal download contains training weights required for CHARL-E to run. The no weights version is a smaller download; you can add your weights directory via the options menu.

Who created CHARL-E?

CHARL-E was created by Charlie Holtz, who lives in NYC and works in quantitative finance.

Why does CHARL-E run slowly on my Mac?

Ongoing improvements in the Stable Diffusion community are making the process faster. The creator is working on optimizing performance.

Will CHARL-E be available for Intel Macs?

Compatibility with older Intel Macs is in development; users can sign up for the newsletter to be notified when it's ready.