Why can MLX be installed globally but not in empty project?

[dustfoxer]

I'm running pixi 0.46 on macOS 15.4

pixi global install mlx-vlm

└── mlx-vlm: 0.1.12 (installed)

pixi global install mlx

└── mlx: 0.25.1 (installed)

pixi init
pixi add mlx-vlm

 ├─ mlx-vlm 0.1.11 | 0.1.12 would require
      │  └─ mlx >=0.22.0, which cannot be installed because there are no viable options:
      │     └─ mlx 0.22.0 | 0.22.0 | 0.22.0 | 0.22.0 ....  0.25.1 would require
      │        └─ __osx >=14.5, for which no candidates were found.

pixi add mlx :

Error:   × failed to solve the conda requirements of 'default' 'osx-arm64'
  ╰─▶ Cannot solve the request because of: mlx * cannot be installed because there are no viable options:
  └─ mlx 0.0.9 | 0.0.9 | 0.0.9 | 0.0.9 ...... | 0.25.1 | 0.25.1 would require
         └─ __osx >=13.3, for which no candidates were found.

I'm not sure how to interpret the error messages.

MLX works on the latest macOS and I'm running 15.4

Why would a package be able to be installed globally but not in a project?

[slonik-az]

confirming the same problem on macos-15.3.2
Looks like a bug. Please file an issue.

[dustfoxer]

Thanks for the confirmation.

Have you had the same issue with any other packages?

[slonik-az]

so far no. Only with the packages you reported (mlx, mlx-vlm). Other packages I use (not many) install correctly in both global and local environments.

[dustfoxer]

I'm not sure whether this is a potential bug in pixi, or resolvo the package resolver, or maybe even an issue somewhere else in the conda-forge ecosystem.

Any thoughts?

Hoping to get some clarity on this before I file an issue here.

[lucascolley]

I created #4048