Feat: Improve Model Tier Recommendation for Apple Silicon

[rohan-pandeyy]

Closes #1292

This pull request adds improved detection and reporting of Apple Silicon hardware in both the backend and frontend. The main changes include new utility functions to detect Apple Silicon and its performance tier, updating the hardware info API to include this data, and adjusting the frontend to display Apple Silicon chip names when present.

Apple Silicon Detection and Tiering:

• Added detect_apple_silicon() and detect_apple_silicon_tier() functions to identify Apple Silicon chips and classify them as "small" (base M1/M2) or "medium" (Pro/Max/Ultra, M3+, or future chips) in hardware_detect.py.
• Updated detect_hardware_tier() to return the Apple Silicon tier if detected, improving model recommendations for Mac users.

Backend API Enhancements:

• Modified get_hardware_info() to include an apple_silicon field in the returned dictionary, exposing chip information to the frontend.

Frontend and Type Updates:

• Updated the HardwareInfo TypeScript interface to include the new apple_silicon field.
• Changed the hardware display in AIModelSetupStep.tsx to show the Apple Silicon chip name (if present) instead of GPU info, improving clarity for Mac users.

Screenshots/Recordings:

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Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features
  • Added automated Apple Silicon detection and reporting in diagnostics.
  • Improved hardware tier classification to recognize Apple Silicon tiers alongside existing RAM/GPU criteria.
  • Hardware display now surfaces Apple Silicon identification before GPU details for clearer system profiling.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

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Review profile: CHILL

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between adbbb72 and 9378e0c.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• backend/app/utils/hardware_detect.py

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (1)

• backend/app/utils/hardware_detect.py

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Walkthrough

This PR adds Apple Silicon detection to backend hardware tiering and exposes the chip name; the frontend shows the detected Apple Silicon name in the onboarding hardware summary, falling back to GPU names or 'No dedicated GPU'.

Changes

Apple Silicon Detection Integration

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Backend Apple Silicon Detection Helpers backend/app/utils/hardware_detect.py	Imports platform and introduces detect_apple_silicon() to identify Apple Silicon chips via sysctl, and detect_apple_silicon_tier() to map chip families to hardware tiers; integrates Apple tier detection into detect_hardware_tier() with early return before RAM/GPU fallback.
Backend Hardware Info Exposure backend/app/utils/hardware_detect.py	Updates get_hardware_info() to include "apple_silicon" field in the returned diagnostics dictionary.
Frontend Type and UI Integration frontend/src/types/models.ts, frontend/src/components/OnboardingSteps/AIModelSetupStep.tsx	Adds `apple_silicon: string

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant Frontend
  participant Backend
  participant HardwareDetect
  participant Sysctl
  Frontend->>Backend: GET /api/hardware (onboarding)
  Backend->>HardwareDetect: detect_hardware_tier()
  HardwareDetect->>HardwareDetect: detect_apple_silicon_tier()
  HardwareDetect->>Sysctl: sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
  Sysctl-->>HardwareDetect: "Apple M3 Pro" (or fallback)
  HardwareDetect-->>Backend: tier + apple_silicon
  Backend-->>Frontend: 200 { hardware info including apple_silicon }

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Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

Suggested labels

Python, TypeScript/JavaScript

Poem

🐰 Silicon Apple trees now in sight,
From M-chips bright to tier just right,
Detect and display with grace untold,
A Mac recommendation worth its gold! 🍎

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and accurately summarizes the main change: adding Apple Silicon detection and improved model tier recommendations for Apple Silicon machines.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR successfully implements all coding requirements from issue #1292: detect_apple_silicon() and detect_apple_silicon_tier() functions added with correct mapping logic, detect_hardware_tier() updated to consult Apple Silicon tier first, apple_silicon field exposed in get_hardware_info(), and frontend updated to display chip name.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are directly related to Apple Silicon detection and tiering as specified in issue #1292; no out-of-scope modifications were introduced.

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 2

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@backend/app/utils/hardware_detect.py`:
- Around line 1-6: This module uses PEP 604 union syntax (e.g., annotations like
"str | None") but lacks the compatibility import; add "from __future__ import
annotations" as the very first line of backend/app/utils/hardware_detect.py
(before any other imports such as shutil, subprocess, platform, onnxruntime or
psutil) so functions and type hints in this file (e.g., any that use "|" unions)
work on Python 3.9.
- Around line 68-81: The function detect_apple_silicon_tier currently returns
"medium" by default for any Apple Silicon not matched as base M1/M2 small, which
contradicts issue `#1292`; update detect_apple_silicon_tier (using the chip
variable from detect_apple_silicon()) so that the final/default return is
"small" instead of "medium" while keeping existing logic that explicitly
classifies Pro/Max/Ultra as non-small.

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Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

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Run ID: 74b81545-d40a-4ea0-9ee8-f3535db5b6fd

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 27a9c6a and adbbb72.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• backend/app/utils/hardware_detect.py
• frontend/src/components/OnboardingSteps/AIModelSetupStep.tsx
• frontend/src/types/models.ts

[rohan-pandeyy]

How'd lint fail for a file that wasn't even touched?! 🤔

[rahulharpal1603]

Nice