🧠⚡ Claude Code Local

Claude Code, running on your own Mac. No cloud. No API key. No waiting.

Your Mac's chip runs the AI · Claude Code works exactly like it always does · nothing leaves your computer

In one sentence: a small Python server (proxy/server.py) runs open AI models on your Mac's chip with Apple's MLX and answers Claude Code in Anthropic's own API format, so Claude Code works with no cloud model and no API key.

Other things I built that go with it are in the local-first family.

🛠️ What I built

Matt Macosko wrote the glue that makes local models usable inside Claude Code. The pieces in this repo:

• ⚡ proxy/server.py: the MLX server. Speaks the Anthropic Messages API with streaming, turns each model's own tool-call format (Gemma 4, Qwen, Llama JSON) into Claude Code tool calls, repairs garbled tool JSON, and reuses the prompt cache between turns so long sessions don't re-read everything.
• 🧪 scripts/test_parse_tool_calls.py and scripts/test_mlx_server.py: tests for the tool-call parser (no model needed) and for multi-step tool calls against a running server.
• 🏎️ agent/agent.py: the Native Engine, a one-file terminal coding agent with a short fixed system prompt so the cache survives every turn. bench/agent_bench.py reproduces its cache numbers.
• 🔋 bin/keepgoing + bin/keepgoing.py: finds your last Claude Code conversation in this folder and resumes it on a free cloud or local model.
• 🚀 install.sh, setup.sh and scripts/doctor.sh: check the Mac, pick a model that fits its memory, install everything and make a Desktop launcher.
• 🎮 launchers/ with the shared launchers/lib/claude-local-common.sh: the double-click modes below.

Upstream, not mine: Claude Code (Anthropic), MLX and mlx-lm (Apple), and the models themselves (Google, Qwen, Nous Research and the others credited below). Contributors who fixed things are named at the bottom.

🛑 Hit your Claude usage limit?

Claude Code just said "you've reached your usage limit" and the reset is hours away? Keep working: same Claude Code, same project, but the AI answering runs on your own Mac.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicedreamzapp/claude-code-local/main/install.sh | bash

That's it. It even works on a 16 GB MacBook, and gets better the more memory your Mac has.

Once it's running, the local-first family takes it off the keyboard: your browser, your voice, your phone, all on the same machine.

🌊 Use it with Trinidad Head

Trinidad Head is the recommended terminal for running local models, on Mac and PC. It's built from scratch by the same person who made this project, and it makes long local-AI sessions nicer:

• 🪟 Glass windows with a soft neon glow, rounded and easy on the eyes
• 🌈 A different color for every window, so you can tell your local-model windows apart at a glance
• 🔠 Bigger, easy-to-read text
• 💬 Your own prompts stand out in a soft bubble, so you can find what you asked when you scroll back
• 🖱️ Copy and paste just work, even under Claude Code's calm focus view

👉 Get Trinidad Head · project page

🔋 Out of Claude credits? Keep going.

When Claude runs out, type exit in Claude Code, then keep going. You get a short menu, and the same conversation carries on with whichever model you pick:

• ☁️ Free cloud models from OpenRouter (add a free key, see below)
• 💻 Models on your Mac from the lineup below, sized to fit your memory

setup.sh installs it for you. To add it by hand, or to turn on the free cloud models:

echo 'source "$HOME/claude-code-local/scripts/keepgoing-shell.sh"' >> ~/.zshrc   # the "keep going" command
mkdir -p ~/.config/claude-code-local
echo 'OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your-free-key' >> ~/.config/claude-code-local/keepgoing.env   # optional

Want a reminder at the bottom of every Claude window? Point your status line at scripts/statusline-keepgoing.sh. It says "💡 Out of Claude credits? Type exit, then keep going to carry on with a free or local model."

💡 Free cloud models can get busy later in the day. The models on your Mac are always there.

🤔 What is this, really?

Your Mac has a powerful graphics chip built in. This project uses it to run big AI models right on your computer and plugs them into Claude Code, so the whole coding experience works offline: editing files, managing projects, even driving your browser or talking out loud.

The trick: Claude Code speaks one language (Anthropic's), and local AI servers usually speak another (OpenAI's). Most setups put a slow translator in between. This project's server speaks Claude Code's language directly, so there's nothing in the middle, and that's what makes it fast.

📝 You  ──▶  🤖 Claude Code  ──▶  ⚡ this server (on your Mac)  ──▶  🧠 local model  ──▶  🖥️ your Mac's chip

💻 What you need

• 🍎 A Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer)
• 🐍 Python 3.12 (setup installs it for you)
• 🤖 Claude Code: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Setup looks at your Mac's memory and picks a model that fits:

🚀 Get started

One command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicedreamzapp/claude-code-local/main/install.sh | bash

Or read the script first:

git clone https://github.com/nicedreamzapp/claude-code-local
cd claude-code-local
bash setup.sh

Setup picks your model, downloads it, installs the server, and puts Claude Local.command on your Desktop. Double-click it and you're coding locally. 🎉

🐛 Asked to sign in to a Claude account? Your claude is too old. Update it: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# 1. Set up the MLX environment
python3.12 -m venv ~/.local/mlx-server
~/.local/mlx-server/bin/pip install mlx-lm

# 2. Pick a model and download it (one time)
bash scripts/download-and-import.sh gemma   # or 'qwen', 'gemma12', 'hermes'

# 3. Start the server (MLX_SERVER points at the repo copy, since setup.sh didn't install one)
MLX_MODEL=divinetribe/gemma-4-31b-it-abliterated-4bit-mlx \
MLX_SERVER="$PWD/proxy/server.py" \
  bash scripts/start-mlx-server.sh

# 4. Launch Claude Code against it
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:4000 \
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-local \
claude --model claude-sonnet-4-6

setup.sh installs the server as a symlink back t