diff --git a/webui/src/components/BackendFormField.tsx b/webui/src/components/BackendFormField.tsx
index a210626..3dd7af0 100644
--- a/webui/src/components/BackendFormField.tsx
+++ b/webui/src/components/BackendFormField.tsx
@@ -2,11 +2,10 @@ import React from 'react'
 import { Input } from '@/components/ui/input'
 import { Label } from '@/components/ui/label'
 import { Checkbox } from '@/components/ui/checkbox'
-import type { BackendOptions } from '@/schemas/instanceOptions'
 import { getBackendFieldType, basicBackendFieldsConfig } from '@/lib/zodFormUtils'
 
 interface BackendFormFieldProps {
-  fieldKey: keyof BackendOptions
+  fieldKey: string
   value: string | number | boolean | string[] | undefined
   onChange: (key: string, value: string | number | boolean | string[] | undefined) => void
 }
diff --git a/webui/src/components/InstanceDialog.tsx b/webui/src/components/InstanceDialog.tsx
index cc4b7e4..919ef52 100644
--- a/webui/src/components/InstanceDialog.tsx
+++ b/webui/src/components/InstanceDialog.tsx
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ const InstanceDialog: React.FC<InstanceDialogProps> = ({
   // Get field lists dynamically from the type
   const basicFields = getBasicFields();
   const advancedFields = getAdvancedFields();
-  const basicBackendFields = getBasicBackendFields();
-  const advancedBackendFields = getAdvancedBackendFields();
+  const basicBackendFields = getBasicBackendFields(formData.backend_type);
+  const advancedBackendFields = getAdvancedBackendFields(formData.backend_type);
 
   // Reset form when dialog opens/closes or when instance changes
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -66,10 +66,21 @@ const InstanceDialog: React.FC<InstanceDialogProps> = ({
   }, [open, instance]);
 
   const handleFieldChange = (key: keyof CreateInstanceOptions, value: any) => {
-    setFormData((prev) => ({
-      ...prev,
-      [key]: value,
-    }));
+    setFormData((prev) => {
+      // If backend_type is changing, clear backend_options
+      if (key === 'backend_type' && prev.backend_type !== value) {
+        return {
+          ...prev,
+          [key]: value,
+          backend_options: {}, // Clear backend options when backend type changes
+        };
+      }
+      
+      return {
+        ...prev,
+        [key]: value,
+      };
+    });
   };
 
   const handleBackendFieldChange = (key: string, value: any) => {
@@ -78,7 +89,7 @@ const InstanceDialog: React.FC<InstanceDialogProps> = ({
       backend_options: {
         ...prev.backend_options,
         [key]: value,
-      },
+      } as any,
     }));
   };
 
@@ -260,7 +271,7 @@ const InstanceDialog: React.FC<InstanceDialogProps> = ({
                 <BackendFormField
                   key={fieldKey}
                   fieldKey={fieldKey}
-                  value={formData.backend_options?.[fieldKey]}
+                  value={(formData.backend_options as any)?.[fieldKey]}
                   onChange={handleBackendFieldChange}
                 />
               ))}
@@ -345,7 +356,7 @@ const InstanceDialog: React.FC<InstanceDialogProps> = ({
                         <BackendFormField
                           key={fieldKey}
                           fieldKey={fieldKey}
-                          value={formData.backend_options?.[fieldKey]}
+                          value={(formData.backend_options as any)?.[fieldKey]}
                           onChange={handleBackendFieldChange}
                         />
                       ))}
diff --git a/webui/src/components/ZodFormField.tsx b/webui/src/components/ZodFormField.tsx
index f1ab226..64832b0 100644
--- a/webui/src/components/ZodFormField.tsx
+++ b/webui/src/components/ZodFormField.tsx
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@ import React from 'react'
 import { Input } from '@/components/ui/input'
 import { Label } from '@/components/ui/label'
 import { Checkbox } from '@/components/ui/checkbox'
-import type { CreateInstanceOptions } from '@/types/instance'
-import { BackendType } from '@/types/instance'
+import { BackendType, type CreateInstanceOptions } from '@/types/instance'
 import { getFieldType, basicFieldsConfig } from '@/lib/zodFormUtils'
 
 interface ZodFormFieldProps {
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ const ZodFormField: React.FC<ZodFormFieldProps> = ({ fieldKey, value, onChange }
             className="flex h-10 w-full rounded-md border border-input bg-background px-3 py-2 text-sm ring-offset-background file:border-0 file:bg-transparent file:text-sm file:font-medium placeholder:text-muted-foreground focus-visible:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-ring focus-visible:ring-offset-2 disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:opacity-50"
           >
             <option value={BackendType.LLAMA_CPP}>Llama Server</option>
-            {/* Add more backend types here as they become available */}
+            <option value={BackendType.MLX_LM}>MLX LM</option>
           </select>
           {config.description && (
             <p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">{config.description}</p>
diff --git a/webui/src/lib/api.ts b/webui/src/lib/api.ts
index 608769f..05c1f27 100644
--- a/webui/src/lib/api.ts
+++ b/webui/src/lib/api.ts
@@ -93,6 +93,14 @@ export const backendsApi = {
         body: JSON.stringify({ command }),
       }),
   },
+  mlx: {
+    // POST /backends/mlx/parse-command
+    parseCommand: (command: string) =>
+      apiCall<CreateInstanceOptions>('/backends/mlx/parse-command', {
+        method: 'POST',
+        body: JSON.stringify({ command }),
+      }),
+  },
 };
 
 // Instance API functions
diff --git a/webui/src/lib/zodFormUtils.ts b/webui/src/lib/zodFormUtils.ts
index 6700e74..ee1d6a1 100644
--- a/webui/src/lib/zodFormUtils.ts
+++ b/webui/src/lib/zodFormUtils.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,15 @@
-import { type CreateInstanceOptions, type BackendOptions, getAllFieldKeys, getAllBackendFieldKeys } from '@/schemas/instanceOptions'
+import { 
+  type CreateInstanceOptions, 
+  type LlamaCppBackendOptions, 
+  type MlxBackendOptions,
+  LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema,
+  MlxBackendOptionsSchema,
+  getAllFieldKeys, 
+  getAllLlamaCppFieldKeys,
+  getAllMlxFieldKeys,
+  getLlamaCppFieldType,
+  getMlxFieldType
+} from '@/schemas/instanceOptions'
 
 // Instance-level basic fields (not backend-specific)
 export const basicFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
@@ -36,8 +47,8 @@ export const basicFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
   }
 }
 
-// Backend-specific basic fields (these go in backend_options)
-export const basicBackendFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
+// LlamaCpp backend-specific basic fields
+const basicLlamaCppFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
   label: string
   description?: string
   placeholder?: string
@@ -46,7 +57,8 @@ export const basicBackendFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
   model: {
     label: 'Model Path',
     placeholder: '/path/to/model.gguf',
-    description: 'Path to the model file'
+    description: 'Path to the model file',
+    required: true
   },
   hf_repo: {
     label: 'Hugging Face Repository',
@@ -65,13 +77,55 @@ export const basicBackendFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
   }
 }
 
-export function isBasicField(key: keyof CreateInstanceOptions): boolean {
+// MLX backend-specific basic fields
+const basicMlxFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
+  label: string
+  description?: string
+  placeholder?: string
+  required?: boolean
+}> = {
+  model: {
+    label: 'Model',
+    placeholder: 'mlx-community/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3-4bit',
+    description: 'The path to the MLX model weights, tokenizer, and config',
+    required: true
+  },
+  python_path: {
+    label: 'Python Virtual Environment Path',
+    placeholder: '/path/to/venv',
+    description: 'Path to Python virtual environment (optional)'
+  },
+  temp: {
+    label: 'Temperature',
+    placeholder: '0.0',
+    description: 'Default sampling temperature (default: 0.0)'
+  },
+  top_p: {
+    label: 'Top-P',
+    placeholder: '1.0',
+    description: 'Default nucleus sampling top-p (default: 1.0)'
+  },
+  top_k: {
+    label: 'Top-K',
+    placeholder: '0',
+    description: 'Default top-k sampling (default: 0, disables top-k)'
+  },
+  min_p: {
+    label: 'Min-P',
+    placeholder: '0.0',
+    description: 'Default min-p sampling (default: 0.0, disables min-p)'
+  },
+  max_tokens: {
+    label: 'Max Tokens',
+    placeholder: '512',
+    description: 'Default maximum number of tokens to generate (default: 512)'
+  }
+}
+
+function isBasicField(key: keyof CreateInstanceOptions): boolean {
   return key in basicFieldsConfig
 }
 
-export function isBasicBackendField(key: keyof BackendOptions): boolean {
-  return key in basicBackendFieldsConfig
-}
 
 export function getBasicFields(): (keyof CreateInstanceOptions)[] {
   return Object.keys(basicFieldsConfig) as (keyof CreateInstanceOptions)[]
@@ -81,13 +135,61 @@ export function getAdvancedFields(): (keyof CreateInstanceOptions)[] {
   return getAllFieldKeys().filter(key => !isBasicField(key))
 }
 
-export function getBasicBackendFields(): (keyof BackendOptions)[] {
-  return Object.keys(basicBackendFieldsConfig) as (keyof BackendOptions)[]
+
+export function getBasicBackendFields(backendType?: string): string[] {
+  if (backendType === 'mlx_lm') {
+    return Object.keys(basicMlxFieldsConfig)
+  } else if (backendType === 'llama_cpp') {
+    return Object.keys(basicLlamaCppFieldsConfig)
+  }
+  // Default to LlamaCpp for backward compatibility
+  return Object.keys(basicLlamaCppFieldsConfig)
 }
 
-export function getAdvancedBackendFields(): (keyof BackendOptions)[] {
-  return getAllBackendFieldKeys().filter(key => !isBasicBackendField(key))
+export function getAdvancedBackendFields(backendType?: string): string[] {
+  if (backendType === 'mlx_lm') {
+    return getAllMlxFieldKeys().filter(key => !(key in basicMlxFieldsConfig))
+  } else if (backendType === 'llama_cpp') {
+    return getAllLlamaCppFieldKeys().filter(key => !(key in basicLlamaCppFieldsConfig))
+  }
+  // Default to LlamaCpp for backward compatibility
+  return getAllLlamaCppFieldKeys().filter(key => !(key in basicLlamaCppFieldsConfig))
+}
+
+// Combined backend fields config for use in BackendFormField
+export const basicBackendFieldsConfig: Record<string, {
+  label: string
+  description?: string
+  placeholder?: string
+  required?: boolean
+}> = {
+  ...basicLlamaCppFieldsConfig,
+  ...basicMlxFieldsConfig
+}
+
+// Get field type for any backend option (union type)
+export function getBackendFieldType(key: string): 'text' | 'number' | 'boolean' | 'array' {
+  // Try to get type from LlamaCpp schema first
+  try {
+    if (LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema.shape && key in LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema.shape) {
+      return getLlamaCppFieldType(key as keyof LlamaCppBackendOptions)
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // Schema might not be available
+  }
+  
+  // Try MLX schema
+  try {
+    if (MlxBackendOptionsSchema.shape && key in MlxBackendOptionsSchema.shape) {
+      return getMlxFieldType(key as keyof MlxBackendOptions)
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // Schema might not be available
+  }
+  
+  // Default fallback
+  return 'text'
 }
 
 // Re-export the Zod-based functions
-export { getFieldType, getBackendFieldType } from '@/schemas/instanceOptions'
\ No newline at end of file
+export { getFieldType } from '@/schemas/instanceOptions'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/webui/src/schemas/instanceOptions.ts b/webui/src/schemas/instanceOptions.ts
index cd422c5..91a932a 100644
--- a/webui/src/schemas/instanceOptions.ts
+++ b/webui/src/schemas/instanceOptions.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import { BackendType } from '@/types/instance'
 import { z } from 'zod'
 
-// Define the backend options schema (previously embedded in CreateInstanceOptionsSchema)
-export const BackendOptionsSchema = z.object({
+// Define the LlamaCpp backend options schema
+export const LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema = z.object({
   // Common params
   verbose_prompt: z.boolean().optional(),
   threads: z.number().optional(),
@@ -170,6 +170,40 @@ export const BackendOptionsSchema = z.object({
   fim_qwen_14b_spec: z.boolean().optional(),
 })
 
+// Define the MLX backend options schema
+export const MlxBackendOptionsSchema = z.object({
+  // Basic connection options
+  model: z.string().optional(),
+  host: z.string().optional(),
+  port: z.number().optional(),
+  python_path: z.string().optional(),
+  
+  // Model and adapter options
+  adapter_path: z.string().optional(),
+  draft_model: z.string().optional(),
+  num_draft_tokens: z.number().optional(),
+  trust_remote_code: z.boolean().optional(),
+  
+  // Logging and templates
+  log_level: z.enum(['DEBUG', 'INFO', 'WARNING', 'ERROR', 'CRITICAL']).optional(),
+  chat_template: z.string().optional(),
+  use_default_chat_template: z.boolean().optional(),
+  chat_template_args: z.string().optional(), // JSON string
+  
+  // Sampling defaults
+  temp: z.number().optional(),     // Note: MLX uses "temp" not "temperature"
+  top_p: z.number().optional(),
+  top_k: z.number().optional(),
+  min_p: z.number().optional(),
+  max_tokens: z.number().optional(),
+})
+
+// Backend options union
+export const BackendOptionsSchema = z.union([
+  LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema,
+  MlxBackendOptionsSchema,
+])
+
 // Define the main create instance options schema
 export const CreateInstanceOptionsSchema = z.object({
   // Restart options
@@ -180,11 +214,13 @@ export const CreateInstanceOptionsSchema = z.object({
   on_demand_start: z.boolean().optional(),
 
   // Backend configuration
-  backend_type: z.enum([BackendType.LLAMA_CPP]).optional(),
+  backend_type: z.enum([BackendType.LLAMA_CPP, BackendType.MLX_LM]).optional(),
   backend_options: BackendOptionsSchema.optional(),
 })
 
 // Infer the TypeScript types from the schemas
+export type LlamaCppBackendOptions = z.infer<typeof LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema>
+export type MlxBackendOptions = z.infer<typeof MlxBackendOptionsSchema>
 export type BackendOptions = z.infer<typeof BackendOptionsSchema>
 export type CreateInstanceOptions = z.infer<typeof CreateInstanceOptionsSchema>
 
@@ -193,9 +229,14 @@ export function getAllFieldKeys(): (keyof CreateInstanceOptions)[] {
   return Object.keys(CreateInstanceOptionsSchema.shape) as (keyof CreateInstanceOptions)[]
 }
 
-// Helper to get all backend option field keys
-export function getAllBackendFieldKeys(): (keyof BackendOptions)[] {
-  return Object.keys(BackendOptionsSchema.shape) as (keyof BackendOptions)[]
+// Helper to get all LlamaCpp backend option field keys
+export function getAllLlamaCppFieldKeys(): (keyof LlamaCppBackendOptions)[] {
+  return Object.keys(LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema.shape) as (keyof LlamaCppBackendOptions)[]
+}
+
+// Helper to get all MLX backend option field keys
+export function getAllMlxFieldKeys(): (keyof MlxBackendOptions)[] {
+  return Object.keys(MlxBackendOptionsSchema.shape) as (keyof MlxBackendOptions)[]
 }
 
 // Get field type from Zod schema
@@ -213,9 +254,9 @@ export function getFieldType(key: keyof CreateInstanceOptions): 'text' | 'number
   return 'text' // ZodString and others default to text
 }
 
-// Get field type for backend options
-export function getBackendFieldType(key: keyof BackendOptions): 'text' | 'number' | 'boolean' | 'array' {
-  const fieldSchema = BackendOptionsSchema.shape[key]
+// Get field type for LlamaCpp backend options
+export function getLlamaCppFieldType(key: keyof LlamaCppBackendOptions): 'text' | 'number' | 'boolean' | 'array' {
+  const fieldSchema = LlamaCppBackendOptionsSchema.shape[key]
   if (!fieldSchema) return 'text'
   
   // Handle ZodOptional wrapper
@@ -225,4 +266,19 @@ export function getBackendFieldType(key: keyof BackendOptions): 'text' | 'number
   if (innerSchema instanceof z.ZodNumber) return 'number'
   if (innerSchema instanceof z.ZodArray) return 'array'
   return 'text' // ZodString and others default to text
+}
+
+// Get field type for MLX backend options
+export function getMlxFieldType(key: keyof MlxBackendOptions): 'text' | 'number' | 'boolean' | 'array' {
+  const fieldSchema = MlxBackendOptionsSchema.shape[key]
+  if (!fieldSchema) return 'text'
+  
+  // Handle ZodOptional wrapper
+  const innerSchema = fieldSchema instanceof z.ZodOptional ? fieldSchema.unwrap() : fieldSchema
+  
+  if (innerSchema instanceof z.ZodBoolean) return 'boolean'
+  if (innerSchema instanceof z.ZodNumber) return 'number'
+  if (innerSchema instanceof z.ZodArray) return 'array'
+  if (innerSchema instanceof z.ZodEnum) return 'text' // Enum treated as text/select
+  return 'text' // ZodString and others default to text
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/webui/src/types/instance.ts b/webui/src/types/instance.ts
index bffb321..869f835 100644
--- a/webui/src/types/instance.ts
+++ b/webui/src/types/instance.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ import type { CreateInstanceOptions } from '@/schemas/instanceOptions'
 export { type CreateInstanceOptions } from '@/schemas/instanceOptions'
 
 export const BackendType = {
-  LLAMA_CPP: 'llama_cpp'
+  LLAMA_CPP: 'llama_cpp',
+  MLX_LM: 'mlx_lm',
+  // MLX_VLM: 'mlx_vlm',  // Future expansion
 } as const
 
 export type BackendTypeValue = typeof BackendType[keyof typeof BackendType]