Local AI Coding Assistant: Run Your Own Copilot

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated 2026-07-12 · Hardware figures computed by our VRAM engine

A local AI coding assistant is three choices: a model (Qwen3-Coder, Devstral-2, Qwen 3.6 — picked by your VRAM), a tool (Continue for Copilot-style assist, Cline or Aider for autonomous agents, Tabby for teams), and the hardware to serve it. This hub covers all three, with every hardware figure computed by the same engine as our GPU checker.

Coding is the local-AI use case where the argument is strongest — code is the data companies least want leaving the building, coding assistants are subscription products you can actually replace, and 2026's open coding models are good enough that the replacement isn't a downgrade for everyday work.

It's also where hardware questions get sharpest. An autocomplete model must answer in milliseconds; an agentic model must hold a repo's worth of context; both must fit your VRAM at once. The guides below are organized so you can enter anywhere — by model, by tool, or by hardware — and each one links the others.

The stack in 30 seconds

The guides

• Best Local Coding LLMs in 2026, by VRAM Tier — Every serious open coding model, ranked by the VRAM tier that actually runs it.
• Run a Local Coding Agent End-to-End: Ollama + Qwen3-Coder + VS Code — Ollama + Qwen3-Coder + Continue/Cline in VS Code, end to end, in ~40 minutes.
• Local GitHub Copilot Alternatives: What Actually Replaces It Offline — Continue, Tabby, Cline, Aider, Twinny — what each replaces, fully offline vs hybrid.
• Continue vs Cline vs Aider vs Tabby: the Local Coding Tool Matrix — The feature matrix: assistant vs agent vs terminal vs team server — and sensible pairings.
• VRAM Requirements for Coding LLMs: What Every Tier Actually Runs — What 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48+ GB actually run — with the context-headroom rule that generic tables miss.
• Best GPU for Local AI Coding in 2026: Five Picks That Make Sense — Five GPU picks matched to the coding models each one runs — VRAM first, compute second.
• Local Coding Agent vs Copilot vs Cursor: What Each Really Costs — Local vs Copilot ($10/mo) vs Cursor ($20/mo) vs metered APIs — honest math, including where local loses.
• Run Qwen3-Coder Locally: 8B, 80B-A3B, and the 480B Question — The 8B, the 80B-A3B, the expert-offload trick, and when to just use the API for the 480B.
• Aider with Local Models: Setup and the Models That Actually Work — The terminal pair programmer on Ollama — config, context, and the models that follow its edit formats.
• Cline with Local Models: What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t) — The VS Code agent on local models — the context-window fix and the honest capability tiers.

Frequently asked questions

Keep going

• Local AI Report #2 — the open coding-model landscape (dated, citable)
• GPU compatibility checker — what your card runs
• Model library — full specs for every family
• Coding & debugging prompting workflow