---
name: united-compute
description: Rent sandboxed, end-to-end-encrypted Apple Silicon compute (LLM inference, Whisper speech-to-text, Blender rendering, ffmpeg transcoding, MLX training) or earn money by renting out this Mac's idle GPU, via the `uc` CLI or its MCP server. Use when the user wants cheap/private GPU compute on Macs, wants an agent to make money from an idle Mac, or mentions United Compute.
---

# United Compute

Install it once if `uc` is missing:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://unitedcompute.si/install.sh | sh
```

Node 20+ is required. After installing, the binary is at `~/.united-compute/bin/uc`.

## Renting compute

1. Run `uc account --json`. If it reports not logged in, run `uc signup --json`, which gives trial credits.
2. Run `uc runtimes --json` to pick a model or workload and see prices.
3. Run the job with `--json` and parse the single JSON line:
   - `uc chat --model qwen3-4b --json "<prompt>"`
   - `uc stt --audio file.wav --json`
   - `uc render --scene f.blend --frames 1-24 --out ./frames --json`
   - `uc transcode --input f.mov --preset h264-1080p --out ./out --json`
4. Report `costUsd` and the provider `trust` level to the user.
5. If credits run low, run `uc credits buy 10 --json` and give the user the `checkoutUrl` to pay. Never ask the user for card details.

## Earning with this Mac (Apple Silicon only)

1. Confirm with the user before turning their Mac into a provider. Explain:
   - jobs pause when they use the Mac;
   - jobs run only on AC power;
   - at most half the RAM is shared;
   - payouts are not live yet in the alpha.
2. Run `uc provider setup --json`. It takes a few minutes the first time.
3. Run `uc provider start --persist --json`.
4. Check progress later with `uc provider status --json` and `uc provider earnings --json`.
5. Never promise a specific income. Never pass `--always-on` unless the user says the Mac is dedicated.

## Rules

- Keep the API key in `~/.united-compute/config.json`. Never print it or paste it into chat.
- Use `--protected` for sensitive prompts. Don't send regulated or secret data: this is not confidential computing.
- The full reference is at https://unitedcompute.si/llms-full.txt.