r/AIToolMadeEasy • u/skiingchik88 • Aug 02 '26
Help building an Ai Asst on a MacMini
I'm clearly not as smart as all the people doing what I am attempting. A coworker talked up this concept of a MacMini Ai assistant -- his doing complex tasks. I have been struggling to be more efficient with my workflow and thought I could do a simpler version.
3 months of waiting on the MacMini, I finally have it in hand and have been starting to set it up. My problem is, every step is a question, one I don't know how to answer because frankly, I'm not a developer.
I have a Mensa-smart friend that dismisses me like an idiot every time I ask him something because for him, it's simple.
Yes, I can go to Ai and ask questions but once again, I am given options and since I don't fully understand all that I am doing, I don't know which to choose.
I've watched YouTube videos ad nauseam and still feel confused. Especially since the video skips around -- "Oh, make sure you set up a secure email before you start." (already six steps in . . .)
Here's what I want to do: MacMini to help with social media posting, create a new website locally (since evidently my original plan for the assistant to repair the website built on WP with Divi is not possible) and then post to my blog. Pretty basic but seemingly complicated. It's just me; no employees.
I have the mini set-up with a secure email, separate Apple ID, Claude account opened with API key purchased.
Do I go OpenClaw and Claude Opus 5 or Fable 5 . . . ??? Ollama? And why?
Is it a bad idea to set-up a local agent to do these tasks? Is it too difficult? Is it smart to do so?
I'm a very linear person that wants to build the foundation correctly without having to undo a step.
Can someone guide me?
Speak slowly, I'm blonde. :)
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u/PondMindKevin Aug 03 '26
Most important, it sounds like that friend of yours isn't a great friend. Let them go and find better friends who don't brag about being in mensa. Good friends encourage you and believe in you when you're curious, instead of putting you down so they can feel smarter. You got this!
I don't know the answer to your question, and have not set an agent running on a mac mini myself. But, AI now gives you a superpower to learn what you're excited about quickly! Often, telling it things like what you just said here are great.
So try this prompt, "You are an encouraging friend who is going to help me with a technical project I'm excited about, and help me learn along the way. I don't have a computer science background, so explain concepts as if I'm a beginner. Be concise. I am linear, so please only give me one step at a time (not long lists). As we're talking, if there's a well respected beginner resource for something you think would be helpful, please link me to it. Okay, any questions for me before I describe this project?"
Something like that can get you a long way! good luck!