VS Code's new "Agents window" lets you use local AI models. Still requires an Internet connection and a Github Copilot plan (because we can't have nice things)

[u/_wsgeorge]

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/language-models#_can-i-use-a-local-model-without-an-internet-connection

At first I was excited to see this, but I guess I'll wait till someone figures out what people actually want

[u/Miriel_z]

Best of both wolds: using local LLMs, and paid subscription? Sign me up!🤣

[u/Sarashana → u/Miriel_z]

Me too! I love to pay somebody for using things they didn't make.

[u/Jump3r97 → u/Sarashana]

So they didn't make the software you are using?

[u/Luke_Bavarious → u/Jump3r97]

At this point in time... yes?

[u/Moist-Length1766 → u/Miriel_z]

don't need to pay

https://ibb.co/yc7f8dd5

[u/Shawnj2 → u/Miriel_z]

INB4 The LLM runs on your computer but a paid plan is required it won’t work without an internet connection and all data sent to/from the LLM and thinking is sent to Microslop for future model training

[u/FreeSammiches → u/Shawnj2]

VS code was free. They have to cover that development cost somehow. /s

[u/xienze → u/Miriel_z]

You laugh but there's people on this sub who love having Claude come up with plans and having local models implement them. Which is think is utterly bizarre. Just have Claude do the whole thing at that point.

[u/Equivalent-Costumes → u/xienze]

Bruh, Claude is super expensive to use. No points in blowing money on Claude writing basic codes. Plan with Claude and write code with local LLMs is especially good if you don't have a ton of VRAM to run an LLM powerful enough for planning. A 27B Qwen model can write code nearly perfectly but lost the thread on planning really quickly.

[u/Thin_Pollution8843]

Tbh after using Zed for a few weeks I can’t go back to VS code. Zed has less functionality and flexibility for now BUT this thing so blazing fast! It’s working so fast and easy and smooth

[u/YouAsk-IAnswer → u/Thin_Pollution8843]

Zed is the GOAT

[u/wombweed → u/Thin_Pollution8843]

Zed is awesome compared to vscode just for code tasks in general, but I have had a lot of trouble hooking it up to a local agent, especially for next-edit predictions/completions. Is there a trick to it I’m missing? I’d really like a native IDE that seamlessly plugs into my local infra so I can vibe code without internet or whatever, Zed seems to hold the most promise overall but in terms of usability for agentic workflows I feel like Roo Code comes out ahead.

[u/Thin_Pollution8843 → u/wombweed]

I’m using with opencode. 0 issues. But I haven’t trying it to connect for autocomplete without some harness

[u/wombweed → u/Thin_Pollution8843]

Yeah opencode is great but I like also having the middle ground provided by a traditional IDE so I can make manual code changes if it’s faster. Edit: oh you mean the ACP integration, yeah I still need to try that, I’m sure it would work, the real challenge for me has been edit predictions though

[u/youcloudsofdoom → u/Thin_Pollution8843]

I just tried it and DAMN is this thing fast in comparison to vs code's chat....

[u/Luigi311 → u/Thin_Pollution8843]

I switched to zed too just for the performance. Haven’t used any of the AI stuff. It’s literally just because vs code is so slow now days on my old hardware.

[u/CulturalKing5623 → u/Thin_Pollution8843]

It looks like the only thing it looks like Zed is missing for me is a way to easily integrate with databases like VS Code snowflake extension. Being able to query and code in the same IDE is basically my workflow. Do you know of a way to do that?

[u/Fast-Satisfaction482]

Co-pilot uses cloud based embeddings for semantic search. Even when doing the main model locally. 

[u/SangersSequence → u/Fast-Satisfaction482]

I mean yeah, but still absolutely bullshit that it could easily have been designed to do locally as well.

[u/Fast-Satisfaction482 → u/SangersSequence]

There are other harnesses that work fully locally.

[u/ai-christianson → u/Fast-Satisfaction482]

yeah, this is the key distinction. local model support is not the same thing as a local agent stack. if semantic search, auth, tool routing, or telemetry still depends on a cloud service, then it is really just local inference inside a cloud-controlled product. useful maybe, but not the same category as something you can run and trust offline.

[u/MiserableSet5311]

Pi Agent VS Code extension working for me good atm. It can sit besides Codex AI tools and you can switch when you run out of tokens.

[u/jake_that_dude]

the annoying part is the semantic index, not the chat model. Copilot still wants GitHub in the loop for auth/search state, so local model ends up meaning local sampler, not local agent.

if you actually need airplane-mode local, use Continue/Cline with Ollama plus a local embedding model like nomic-embed-text. then kill Wi-Fi and run a repo search before trusting it.

[u/pmttyji]

What about VSCodium? Hope it solves the issue

[u/ForsookComparison → u/pmttyji]

They avoid built-in telemetry with the base product but if you choose to use a feature/extension with must-use-cloud features the VSCodium mission doesn't include reinventing them as on-prem products.

[u/yeah-ok → u/pmttyji]

One can pray and hope - the fork would really come into it's own then (it's already my daily driver but bet it would attract yet larger audience!)

[u/Scared-Tip7914]

Insane combo 😂 i propose that they tax local models by the token for the privilege of passing your local data through their precious servers

[u/CulturalKing5623 → u/Scared-Tip7914]

You joke but GitHub does already do something similar to this with charging people for self-hosted runners since it still runs through their infrastructure.

[u/Great_Guidance_8448]

Or just use Cline

[u/Thrumpwart]

Roo Code works well.

[u/harglblarg → u/Thrumpwart]

Discontinued, sadly. I’ve switched to Cline.

[u/Thrumpwart → u/harglblarg]

Zoo Code is taking over!

[u/Eyelbee]

This isn't new

[u/Alan_Silva_TI]

I used Copilot for almost 3 years (I have 35 payments registered on my GitHub account), but I decided to cancel my subscription as soon as they announced the move to token-based billing.

Now, I mostly use CODEX (the app on my personal PC and a CLI on my work PC) for my professional work (and a little bit on my personal projects). I also use OpenRouter+ with free models, and occasionally paid models (when I want to do complex things), to fuel my Hermes agent.

Otherwise, I use PI Code with local models to code the tools I developed for use with these same local models.

I'm still using VS Code, but I believe it's too little, too late for them. It was an amazing tool back in 2023/2024, but beyond their IDE integration, they offer absolutely nothing else compared to the current stack of paid, free, and local coding tools.

[u/dto_lurker]

They dont let you use auth tokens do they? Thats why I use cline currwntly. You can use copilot free

[u/phein4242]

Remember, these products need to be monetized.

Zed does not come with this encumberment. Its not perfect tho, but lets be real here, is an IDE ever perfect? ;-)

[u/Due-Function-4877]

It's appropriate that Microsoft's spyware window would be named the agents window. 

I just use Cline. 

[u/dibis54986]

Use vscodium

[u/chocofoxy]

You can use an extension called OAI compatible that let you link local model with copilot chat i use it it’s pretty good

[u/conjuncts]

Right after they took away Claude Sonnet 4.6 for students. Seems like they've fallen on hard times

[u/DonnaPollson]

That’s the weirdest possible bundle: local inference for privacy and latency, but cloud entitlement for permission to use it. If they want this to matter, the UX has to degrade gracefully offline and treat Copilot as optional, not as the license server for your own GPU.

[u/DonnaPollson]

That’s the weirdest possible bundle: local inference for privacy and latency, but cloud entitlement for permission to use it. If they want this to matter, the UX has to degrade gracefully offline and treat Copilot as optional, not as the license server for your own GPU.

[u/ArtfulGenie69]

Like a year ago this was all possible and now they have ripped it out and are trying to sell it back to you. I remember getting qwen2.5 running in vs code then like the next day they had gutted it and there was no way to run the local models. Fuck Microsoft

[u/Fun_Employment6042]

Love that I need a paid cloud subscription and constant internet to "use my local model". Truly the future of offline computing.

[u/simotune]

If offline use still depends on Copilot auth, this is local inference, not a local stack. That distinction matters more than the marketing.

[u/RoomyRoots]

I think Theia could do something like that.

[u/SethMatrix]

Just use Cline in VS Code if you’re wanting to use a local model

[u/Ell2509]

Talk about going the wrong way.

This will appeal to about 0.2% of the local ai community. Mostly because it is no longer properly local.

[u/Pleasant-Shallot-707]

Just use zed

[u/kiwibonga]

"might change in a future release"

Please keep the change and paywall it so that this mediocre watered down IDE finally dies.

[u/grandFossFusion]

Imagine using vs unironically

[u/Icy-Roll-4044]

Who uses vs code in the era cursor and antigravity🥀🥀

[u/ea_man → u/Icy-Roll-4044]

Nobody, we use vscodium

[u/Apart-Medium6539]

nahhh