I used to think local LLMs were a gimmick until I ran one offline in a cabin last weekend

Last weekend I was at a rental cabin in the Smoky Mountains with no internet. I had some coding work I wanted to finish up but I forgot to pull the docs offline. On a whim I had installed a small 7B model on my laptop before leaving. I ran it locally and asked it to help me debug a Python script. It actually worked. No lag, no API calls. I mean it wasn't perfect but it gave me the right direction in like 30 seconds. Now I'm wondering if I should lean more on local AI for everyday stuff. Has anyone else found a good use for running models offline regularly?

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lucashenderson2h ago

Honestly, do you code much on the go? I had a pretty similar thing happen when I was camping up in the Sierra Nevadas with zero cell service. I had a little 7B model too, and I used it to explain some weird Git error I kept hitting. It wasn't perfect but it got me unstuck fast enough to finish the project before the fire died. Since then I keep a small model on my laptop just for stuff like regex patterns or quick code explanations. It's kind of like having a helpful coworker who never needs wifi.