diff --git a/pkg/instance/options.go b/pkg/instance/options.go
index b9a2cca..2b1437f 100644
--- a/pkg/instance/options.go
+++ b/pkg/instance/options.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"llamactl/pkg/backends"
 	"llamactl/pkg/backends/llamacpp"
+	"llamactl/pkg/backends/mlx"
 	"llamactl/pkg/config"
 	"log"
 )
@@ -22,8 +23,9 @@ type CreateInstanceOptions struct {
 	BackendType    backends.BackendType `json:"backend_type"`
 	BackendOptions map[string]any       `json:"backend_options,omitempty"`
 
-	// LlamaServerOptions contains the options for the llama server
+	// Backend-specific options
 	LlamaServerOptions *llamacpp.LlamaServerOptions `json:"-"`
+	MlxServerOptions   *mlx.MlxServerOptions        `json:"-"`
 }
 
 // UnmarshalJSON implements custom JSON unmarshaling for CreateInstanceOptions
@@ -55,6 +57,18 @@ func (c *CreateInstanceOptions) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 				return fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal llama.cpp options: %w", err)
 			}
 		}
+	case backends.BackendTypeMlxLm:
+		if c.BackendOptions != nil {
+			optionsData, err := json.Marshal(c.BackendOptions)
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal backend options: %w", err)
+			}
+			
+			c.MlxServerOptions = &mlx.MlxServerOptions{}
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(optionsData, c.MlxServerOptions); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal MLX options: %w", err)
+			}
+		}
 	default:
 		return fmt.Errorf("unknown backend type: %s", c.BackendType)
 	}
@@ -72,19 +86,36 @@ func (c *CreateInstanceOptions) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
 		Alias: (*Alias)(c),
 	}
 
-	// Convert LlamaServerOptions back to BackendOptions map for JSON
-	if c.BackendType == backends.BackendTypeLlamaCpp && c.LlamaServerOptions != nil {
-		data, err := json.Marshal(c.LlamaServerOptions)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal llama server options: %w", err)
-		}
+	// Convert backend-specific options back to BackendOptions map for JSON
+	switch c.BackendType {
+	case backends.BackendTypeLlamaCpp:
+		if c.LlamaServerOptions != nil {
+			data, err := json.Marshal(c.LlamaServerOptions)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal llama server options: %w", err)
+			}
 
-		var backendOpts map[string]any
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &backendOpts); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal to map: %w", err)
-		}
+			var backendOpts map[string]any
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &backendOpts); err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal to map: %w", err)
+			}
 
-		aux.BackendOptions = backendOpts
+			aux.BackendOptions = backendOpts
+		}
+	case backends.BackendTypeMlxLm:
+		if c.MlxServerOptions != nil {
+			data, err := json.Marshal(c.MlxServerOptions)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal MLX server options: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			var backendOpts map[string]any
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &backendOpts); err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal to map: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			aux.BackendOptions = backendOpts
+		}
 	}
 
 	return json.Marshal(aux)
@@ -136,6 +167,10 @@ func (c *CreateInstanceOptions) BuildCommandArgs() []string {
 		if c.LlamaServerOptions != nil {
 			return c.LlamaServerOptions.BuildCommandArgs()
 		}
+	case backends.BackendTypeMlxLm:
+		if c.MlxServerOptions != nil {
+			return c.MlxServerOptions.BuildCommandArgs()
+		}
 	}
 	return []string{}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/validation/validation.go b/pkg/validation/validation.go
index 77873ca..eff1dd3 100644
--- a/pkg/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/validation/validation.go
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ func ValidateInstanceOptions(options *instance.CreateInstanceOptions) error {
 	switch options.BackendType {
 	case backends.BackendTypeLlamaCpp:
 		return validateLlamaCppOptions(options)
+	case backends.BackendTypeMlxLm:
+		return validateMlxOptions(options)
 	default:
 		return ValidationError(fmt.Errorf("unsupported backend type: %s", options.BackendType))
 	}
@@ -68,6 +70,24 @@ func validateLlamaCppOptions(options *instance.CreateInstanceOptions) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// validateMlxOptions validates MLX backend specific options
+func validateMlxOptions(options *instance.CreateInstanceOptions) error {
+	if options.MlxServerOptions == nil {
+		return ValidationError(fmt.Errorf("MLX server options cannot be nil for MLX backend"))
+	}
+
+	if err := validateStructStrings(options.MlxServerOptions, ""); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Basic network validation for port
+	if options.MlxServerOptions.Port < 0 || options.MlxServerOptions.Port > 65535 {
+		return ValidationError(fmt.Errorf("invalid port range: %d", options.MlxServerOptions.Port))
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 // validateStructStrings recursively validates all string fields in a struct
 func validateStructStrings(v any, fieldPath string) error {
 	val := reflect.ValueOf(v)