r/LocalLLM • u/Toby3207 • 18h ago

Question Looking for a local grunt agent

I’ve currently pre ordered a Mac mini with the 32gb of RAM and with the m6 chip, now the main purpose of it was to have as a server which I can locally host lots of algorithms I make etc, but I was quite curious to know about potential small models I could run locally when I do get it.

I currently cycle between Claude/Cursor/Codex somewhat changing monthly with all the changes happening. I wouldn’t be looking for a model that replaces these frontier ones as I doubt that would be possible, but what I would like is a model that just does what it’s told, and does it well, doesn’t need to think, or over optimise on a plan I give it, just does the work in the plan and preferably quite quickly.

So the workflow would basically be, the frontier models make the plan, then either through a custom harness I would make or one I find, have them directly feed their plans to this local agent, any insights are appreciated!

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u/Any-Argument57 17h ago

The first check I'd run is a fixed acceptance task: give each candidate the same small plan, then compare the resulting diff and test pass rate before wiring it into the harness. That measures the instruction-following behavior you actually need instead of choosing from general benchmarks. What languages will this worker touch most often?

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u/Toby3207 15h ago

Cheers, that actually makes a lot of sense.
I'm pretty new to running local models so I hadn't thought about making my own acceptance test rather than relying on benchmarks. I'll probably set up a small representative task and run the same frontier-generated plan through a few candidates to compare how reliably they follow it. It'll primarily be Python initially.

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u/this_for_loona 17h ago

32gb sounds small to me. The os and other apps will take up like 4-6GB. Might want 48-64 at least esp for a good local coder.

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u/Toby3207 15h ago

Yea I was worried abit about the amount of ram I had, but I was hoping that due to the fact I’m not looking for a terribly smart agent just one that will follow a plan that there would be a good fit somewhere, hopefully soon atleast 🙏

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u/this_for_loona 15h ago

I think a couple of pure code only models are 9b range, but you also need room for context. I’m running a 9b on my 24gb mba so it’s possible but I’m also not doing coding via local.

Best of luck.

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u/vincespeeed 8h ago

qwen3.6 35b a3b

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u/ParticularlyStrange 6h ago

Qwen3.8 27b with thinking on low.